


Changeling Loyalties

by Jormus



Series: Changeling Toby AU [1]
Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons), Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: Changeling Toby, Changelings, Gen, Goblins, Loyalties, Rule Number 3!, Secret Identities, Secrets, mentions of Bular eating people
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2020-01-14 19:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18482938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jormus/pseuds/Jormus
Summary: Toby is quite happy with his life, but then the Amulet of Daylight just had to choose his human friend. What's a changeling to do?Good thing Toby never really liked Gunmar anyway.





	1. A Choice to Make

“Toby-pie!”

Toby quickly changed back into human form before Nana opened the door. It was really just a precaution. Her vision was so poor he could probably lie about in full troll form on the couch and she would remark on how his new outfit was so cute. He had never been quite bold enough to try it. Maybe next Halloween…

Toby threw all of his homework into his backpack and trotted out of his house and over to Jim’s. He got there as his friend emerged from the garage.

“We’re late for school, Jimbo,” He said.

“Sorry busy with the lunches,” Jim said.

Oh Toby _knew_. Even in human form he could smell the delicious sent of meatloaf. Why trolls wanted to eat humans instead of their cooking was always a mystery to him. Bular had probably gotten a bad donut or something.

Jim finished straightening up a garbage can. Toby snorted when he heard him grumbling about raccoons. Arcadia didn’t even _have_ raccoons any more. It was no doubt one of the goblins. There were usually a few hanging around the Domzalski house.

Jim handed him a brown paper bag which he made a big show of smelling before listing off the ingredients. Jim had always been impressed by his ability to figure out the ingredients and often made more complex dishes in an attempt to stump him. He had yet to win.

“Hmmm. Balsamic mushrooms, meatloaf, chunky, sun-dried tomatoes aaaannd… cardamom! Taking a chance there, Chef Jim.”

Jim shook his head in amazement as he got on his bike. Before he could take off Toby grabbed his shoulder.

“Could we not take the canals?” He asked.

Jim’s brows furrowed as he turned back toward Toby.

“But it will save us five minutes.”

“I know, but I’m really not feeling that good today,” Toby said.

Kracka, a goblin that often stayed over, had told him that the Trollhunter and Bular were fighting under the bridge that morning. If there was any chance that the Trollhunter or, even worse, Bular was still around he did not want to risk running into one of them. The Gum-Gum would probably find Jim tastier than his cooking. He would no doubt eat Toby for good measure too.

Jim’s eyes widened with concern. He was always so trusting, Toby almost felt bad for the lies he fed him

“Are you sure you should go to school today? I could collect your homework for you?”

Tempting, but if he didn’t show up to history class Stickler would probably put him on Bular clean-up duty. He shuddered at the thought.

“No, I should be fine. I’m just worried that the canals will make me lose my breakfast,” Toby said as he mounted his bike. “Come on, let’s get going.”

* * *

 

It wasn’t until gym class that the problem made itself known. Toby and Jim were sitting in the room getting ready when suddenly Jim’s head jerked up like a dog that has heard its name called.

Toby stopped struggling with his socks to watch Jim look around with a puzzled expression.

“Something wrong?”

“Did you hear that, Tobes?” Jim asked still looking around.

“Hear what?”

“I thought someone was calling me?”

He trailed off, head tilted, a frown playing across his lips.

“There!”

Okay, now Toby was concerned… There was no way Jim would have been able to hear something Toby couldn’t. At least not now that he was paying attention. He finished pulling on his sock and jammed his shoe on.

“What are you…”

**“ _James Lake.”_**

Toby yelped and backpedaled at the voice.

“So you did hear it!” Jim said triumphantly. “I think it’s coming from my locker.”

Jim opened the locker as Toby peered warily over his shoulder. Bright blue light hit their faces and Toby felt his heart drop down into the pit of his stomach. That was the Trollhunter Amulet.

**_“James Lake.”_ **

The Trollhunter Amulet was calling Jim’s name. That was not good. That was the exact opposite of good. Toby could feel himself starting to sweat. His eyes darted around frantically. Fortunately they were the only ones in the locker room.

Jim was looking at it as if entranced. His hand started to drift toward it and Toby grabbed his wrist. Jim blinked and looked at him in surprise. Toby mentally cursed. He needed an excuse fast.

“I think that’s a prank. You should definitely _not_ touch it.”

“A prank?”

“Yeah people do stuff like this all the time,” Toby forced a laugh. “They put something cool looking in a locker and then when you touch it there’s a trip cord and you get sprayed with all sorts of nasty stuff. It was probably Steve.”

Jim nodded with a frown.

“That does sound like something he’d do…”

“Great!” Toby clapped his hands together. “You get going to gym class and I’ll grab a teacher or someone to take care of this!”

“But…”

Toby pushed Jim toward the door.

“Don’t worry about it. It’ll give me a good excuse to be late. It won’t take long.”

“If you’re sure…” Jim reluctantly left the locker room.

Toby darted back to the locker. He needed to get rid of that thing. He reached for the handle and paused to take a few deep breaths. He had this. All he had to do was grab the amulet and give it to Strickler. It would score him some points in the older changeling’s eyes and Jim would stay uninvolved. Easy as pie. He opened the door to the locker…

It was empty. Toby growled and launched into a string of curses in trollish.

* * *

 

“Waaaacki?”

“Nope, go fish,” Toby said.

Kracka stared at him with narrowed eyes, his nose wrinkled slightly.

“Chet-wa?” He asked suspiciously.

Toby rolled his eyes.

“Of course I’m not cheating.”

After all he didn’t _have_ the card Kracka asked for. It was hidden under the rug. There was a difference.

The front door slammed open. He quickly shoved the protesting goblin out the window before Jim came upstairs.

“Toby!” Jim burst into his room without knocking. “Look what was at my house!”

Toby froze at the sight of the amulet in Jim’s hand.

Jim, oblivious to his inner turmoil, continued on.

“It was just sitting on my bed when I got home. I have no idea how it got there. Maybe someone threw it in my window?”

“Maybe it’s another part of the prank?” Toby said hopefully.

“No, I doubt anyone would…”

The amulet pinged and Jim looked down at it with a puzzled expression. His eyes widened.

“Woah,” Jim breathed.

“What’s it doing?” Toby asked, trying to edge closer.

This was bad. He needed to get the Amulet away from the human as quickly as possible, before someone saw him with it and drew the wrong conclusions. They’d probably assume Toby was involved too. It wouldn’t be good.

Jim, oblivious as always, continued to scrutinize the amulet.

“The inscription on it just changed.” He rotated it in his hands. “It says:  ‘For the Glory of Merlin… Daylight… is mine to command’.”

The amulet pinged again and the air felt supercharged as if they were in the middle of a lightning storm. Toby could feel his hair standing up on end as objects around the room started floating. Several orbs of light shot out of the amulet and into Jim’s chest.

Toby watched helplessly as his friend floated into the air. Troll sized armor materialized around him and then he clashed down to the floor with a loud thud. For a second he stood there looking very awkward and then the armor shrunk down to fit him.

“Wow!”

Jim sounded awed and excited. He had no idea what this meant. No idea of the death sentence he had received. Toby’s stomach and heart clenched painfully.

There was another flash of blue light and the infamous sword Daylight appeared in Jim’s hand.  Toby flinched back and fell off the bed.

“Isn’t this awesome!” Jim was smiling like an overexcited puppy.

His blue eyes met Toby’s. Clearly he was looking for his friend to share in his elation. Toby shoved down his fear and horror and forced on a wide smile.

“This is so cool!” He said a little higher pitched than he really meant to. “You’re like some sort of warrior! You must have like a sacred duty or something.”

“I know right!”

He was going to get himself _killed_. He loved Jim but the kid had never been in a fight in his life. He lacked the aggression and drive necessary to be a warrior, let alone the Trollhunter. What was Merlin _thinking_?

He needed to think up something quickly.

The door slammed open again and he heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. Far too heavy to be human. Toby felt himself start to tremble. Bular had found out. He was toast. He was getting ready to throw himself out the window when the door opened and…

“Master Jim!”

That was definitely not Bular.

Jim screamed. Toby screamed. The strange six-eyed troll also screamed when Jim reflexively threw Daylight at it.

Jim attempted to run away and crashed into a wall going down with a clatter. Daylight vanished with a flash of light and the troll stopped screaming. Another troll, larger with shaggy green fur, appeared and started to force itself through the doorway. Toby contemplated whether or not it would be a good idea to transform and try to fight them off. Probably not… Aside from being outnumbered, the second troll was very big. If he transformed and they captured him…

“We mean no harm!” The four armed one was saying to Jim.

Jim stared at him from his spot on the floor. Judging by the way he was gasping he was very close to passing out.

“I am called Blinky and my large friend here is AAARRRGGHH!!!”

“Hi!” The big troll, now stuck half-way through the door, gave a little wave.

Blinky waited a few seconds, clearly expecting Jim to return the greeting. Unfortunately he was in no condition to do that so Toby decided to step in.

“What are you guys?” He asked.

He flinched when all the attention in the room shifted to him. A trickle of sweat ran down his neck as Blinky studied him. If they figured out what he was… He nearly let out a sigh of relief as the troll gave him a wide smile.

“Why we are trolls of course. Beings of stone and earth.”

“Cool. Cool. So what are you doing in my house?”

* * *

 

After the Trolls had finished explaining the amulet and Toby had convinced them to leave for the night, he sat down on the bed with a considerably less enthusiastic Jim.

“What do I do now?” Jim groaned covering his face with his hands. “I’m not ready to die. What if this Bular troll eats me? What will happen to Mom?”

Toby put an arm around his shoulder and Jim leaned into him. Toby sighed.

“We’ll figure something out.”

“We?” Jim looked up at him, his eyes already a little red and glistening.

“Of course,” Toby said and realized that he meant it.

Toby had grown up knowing he was disposable, worthless in the scheme of things. Nana loved him because she thought he was her grandson. Gunmar despised his kind and Bular would sooner eat him then look at him. The Janus Order only barely cared about another changeling and only if he was useful. Even Mr. Strickler, who knew him personally, would turn on him the moment it suited him. (He wondered sometimes if that was why he related to the goblins so much: No one cared if they lived or died either.)

Jim was different; Jim cared about _Toby._  

He could be a complete mess and unable to even get out of bed and Jim would be there for him.

Something warm and solid settled in his chest.

“I’m with you to the end of the line. Whether you want it or not.”

“Thanks,” Jim breathed out and smiled at him.

Toby smiled back. He had something worth protecting here and, Gunmar be dammed, he was ready to fight for it.


	2. Secret Identities

For all of Toby’s fears, the day following Jim’s selection as Trollhunter proved entirely unremarkable. He spent the entire day expecting Stricklander to summon him into his office to demand why he had not been informed of Jim’s new calling, but the older changeling continued to ignore him as usual. Jim on the other hand… was still freaking out…

“They’ll be here any minute now,” Jim said, throwing his arms in the air. “What am I supposed to tell them? Sorry, I can’t be your chosen one, I’ve got homework to do?”

Toby shifted to get more comfortable on the couch as he watched Jim pace back and forth.

“I thought you wanted some more excitement in your life?” He joked trying to calm his friend.

“Yeah! But I meant maybe like a fun contest or going on a date with someone or a roadtrip! Not being hunted down by a killer troll!”

Well that didn’t work. Toby sighed and glanced warily at the window.  On one hand he really wanted to get Jim to relax a bit, on the other Jim _needed_ to be scared. If he underestimated any of his foes he would be dead. The worst part was that Toby knew Jim hadn’t even grasped exactly how _much_ danger he was in yet.

“And what if he does get me? What about…” Jim’s rant was cut off by a flash of blue.

Toby stared with fascination as the armor came into being around Jim. He had been much too freaked out to appreciate it last time. It was actually super cool looking.

“Oh come on!” Jim pried at the amulet on his chest. “What’s it doing now?”

“I believe it’s reacting to your emotional state,” A voice stated from their left.

Toby and Jim both yelped and spun toward the sound just in time to see Blinky coming in through the back door. Toby put a hand to his chest and tried to will his breathing back to normal. Something that big had no right to be so quiet… Toby grimaced, he needed to be more attentive as well. There was no way he was going to be able to keep them safe if a non-combatant like Blinky could sneak up on them.

He glanced at the window again as Aaarrrgghh began to force his way inside. They _really_ needed to keep the curtains closed when there were “guests” over.

His attention was jolted back to the situation at hand when Blinky clasped a hand on Jim’s shoulder with a loud clank.

“Are you prepared to come with us for your training, Master Jim?” The six-eyed troll was asking.

“Not really?” Jim said weakly.

Aaarrrgghh gave him a sympathetic look before wandering over to Toby. The changeling just barely managed to clamp down on his reflexes and avoid flinching away as he sat down next to him.

…

Actually now that he thought about it that probably would have been considered the normal reaction. He hid a grimace. Usually he didn’t even have to think about acting human, it just came naturally.

Before he could dwell on it any farther the large troll turned and smiled at him. It was probably one of the nicest, gentlest smiles he had ever seen. _Maybe this is fine after all_ , Toby decided as he smiled back.

“Right now?” Jim yelped and Toby returned his attention to the matter at hand.

“Well, I assume you want to get started as soon as possible,” Blinky said. “There’s no way to tell how soon it is before Bular starts coming after you.”

There certainly wasn’t, but it was going to be a lot sooner if they started parading him all over town with two trolls, a changeling, and glowing blue armor…

Toby stood up and inserted himself between his friend and Blinky.

“Now, now… I don’t want Jim to get eaten as much as the next tr… person… but we’ve got to maintain our secret identities… you know?”

“No… I don’t know…”

“It’s like Spider-man,” Toby said, making web shooting motions with his hands. “We have to figure out some sort of disguises or else this Bular guy could just follow us home.”

Blinky tapped his chin with one of his hands, expression thoughtful.

“I do not know who this ‘Man of Spiders’ is, but you do have a good point… Your human dwellings are weak and flimsy, certainly no protection against Bular… or even a goblin.”

Toby choked on his own spit and started coughing.

“Are you all right?” Jim asked, slapping his back.

“Great,” Toby said weakly, giving him a thumbs up.

He _really_ needed to figure out a way to make sure the trolls and goblins did not run into each other. There were so many ways that would end badly.

“The amulet can produce a helmet,” Blinky said after a moment. “That should prove sufficient in concealing your identity.”

“It can?” Jim asked.

“Indeed! Almost all of your predecessors wore one.”

“So how do I get it to do that?”

“It’s simple,” Blinky said, pressing two of his hands together. “You merely have to will it.”

“… And I do that how?”

Blinky fumbled for a moment his eyes darting in different directions as if the answer might be written on one of the walls.

“You must try visualizing what you want,” He said after a moment, nodding more to himself than them. “You must picture a helmet appearing.”

“Okaaay,” Jim said slowly, clearly resigned to not getting the answer he wanted.

He closed his eyes and there was a very long moment of silence. Toby glanced around. Blinky was looking at Jim expectantly, all four hands clasped together and Aaarrrgghh was yawning as he observed the Lake house. Toby’s gaze shifted to the window. Still no goblins. He glanced back at Jim. His friend’s face was all scrunched up and starting to turn a brilliant shade of red.

“Hey, Jimbo!”

Blinky shot him a glare, but Jim looked relieved.

“I think you’re trying _too_ hard.”

Jim frowned, shoulders slumping and Toby immediately felt guilty. He shoved the feeling down and shifted his attention back to Blinky.

“Hey, Mr. Blinky! How about you give Jim some time to work on that and in the mean time we figure out how to disguise me.”

“Disguise you?” Blinky frowned. “Are you coming too?”

“Absolutely!” Toby puffed out his chest. “There’s no way I’m letting Jimbo do this solo.”

“Of course,” Blinky said thoughtfully. “I’ll have to see if I can find something.”

“Cool. Cool… So there was one more thing I was wondering…”

“Yes?”

“Soooooo… Can you trolls smell us? I mean I know most animals have a better sense of smell than humans, but you guys aren’t really animals, so…”

“Yes, we can,” Blinky said, mercifully cutting off Toby’s rambling.

“So is there a way we can disguise that?”

“Possibly…”

“Excellent! How about you guys work on that tonight, and then we’ll meet again tomorrow and go to your secret troll lair.”

“That _does_ sound like a reasonable solution…”

“Great!” Toby said, trying to nudge Blinky toward the door.

Blinky frowned at him, but then the troll’s gaze shifted to Jim and his expression softened.

“Very well… Tomorrow then.”

Toby closed the door behind them. Once the trolls were out of sight he collapsed against it with a groan.

“You owe me big time Jimbo…”

“Thanks…”

Toby glanced over to see Jim glaring at the amulet on his chest.

“Any luck?”

“Nope…”

Toby patted him on the shoulder.

“Well I’m sure you’ll have it all figured out by tomorrow.”

* * *

 

“So how does your mastery of the amulet fair, Master Jim?” Blinky asked as he entered the room the next night.

The two boys were in Tobias’ house this time. Blinky had initially been rather apprehensive on the new Trollhunter bringing another human into this but he was beginning to suspect it was unavoidable given how close they were. Besides Tobias seemed to be a calming influence on Jim… Even if he was a bit paranoid…

His train of thought trailed off as he finally caught sight of the two young humans. Master Jim was currently was leaning back with his foot braced against Tobias’ stomach. Tobias appeared to be attempting to remove the amulet with a short metal bar.

“What in Deya’s name is going on here?” Blinky exclaimed.

Tobias flinched and dropped the bar, while Master Jim gave him a smile that was both guilty and relieved. He rubbed at the back of his neck.

“We were trying to remove the armor. I was trying to get the helmet to appear and now it won’t come off.” He gave Blinky a pleading look. “It’s been three hours, please tell me there’s like a magic phrase or something…”

“I’m afraid not,” Blinky said at a loss. “The armor simply responds to its bearer’s will… I’ve never heard of your predecessors having a problem getting it off… Of course you _are_ the first human to wear an amulet designed for trolls, so I suppose we should expect the unexpected to occur.”

Jim grimaced.

“You mentioned you were working on materializing the helmet… Did you have any luck?”

Master Jim’s shoulders hunched and he shook his head. Blinky sighed and tapped his fingers together. He didn’t want to rush the boy, but it was imperative they start training immediately.

“I spoke with our elder Vendel today and he gave me these,” Blinky said, pulling out pendants with amber stones on them. “These will at least mask your scent…”

“Wait… really?” Tobias asked, sounding excited.

Blinky handed one to each of the boys. Jim took his and put it on while Toby immediately held it up toward the light.

“This looks like some sort of amber,” He said rotating it slowly.

“Very astute!” Blinky said, clapping the boy on the back. “Indeed it is! However I can assure you, you won’t be finding this particular type in one of your human museums. It’s exceedingly rare even for trolls.”

“How does it hide our scent,” Toby asked still turning it over in his hands.

“It doesn’t _hide_ your scent, it _masks_ it.”

“What’s the difference?” Jim asked.

“Hiding your scent would make it to where no one was able to smell you, where masking it makes it to where they simply cannot identify your scent.”

Tobias was nodding, but Jim still looked puzzled.

“It’s like wearing a disguise: People can see you, but they won’t be able to identify you by your face.”

“Okay…”

Blinky decided that was about as far as they were going to get.

 “With that sorted out let us make haste to Trollmarket!”

“But what about the helmet?”

“Unfortunately I fear we will…”

“Actually I have an idea.”

Everyone turned to look at Toby.

* * *

 

The rubber werewolf head mask looked so incredibly ridiculous with the Daylight armor that Toby just had to take a picture of it. He’d download it onto a flash drive later.

He adjusted the disguise that Blinky had provided him with; a large cloak with thick ruff of fur around the neck, and a horned mask. It was supposed to make him look like a troll… _the irony…_

“How long until we get there?” Jim asked.

“Soon,” Blinky said. “We shall be in sight of the canals in a moment.”

“Good, this thing smells… How long has it been since you last washed this, Toby?”

“Hey! You’re supposed to call me Warhammer when we’re out doing hero stuff!” He really needed to drive that point home. He paused for a moment before adding. “…Also …I didn’t think you were supposed to wash masks?”

Jim groaned. The four of them reached to top of the canals and began to navigate their way down. Toby nearly tripped a couple times, unused to wearing a cloak, but that aside they made it without incident.

“Right this way,” Blinky said, guiding them toward the bridge.

“Where…” Jim started to say.

A low threatening snarl cut them off.

Toby’s heart leapt into his throat as a familiar troll dropped down from the bridge.

“So _this_ is the new Trollhunter,” Bular said, stalking toward them. “Pathetic.”

He paused, lip curling as he examined Jim.

“Why do you hide your face, coward?”

Blinky turned to Jim.

“Get out your sword, Master –“

Toby managed to unfreeze and kick him hard in the leg before he could finish his sentence. Blinky shot him a glare before clearly realizing his near slip and putting on an anxious smile. He leaned closer to Jim and spoke in a low voice.

“I know you’re not ready for this, but if you can hold him off for a few minutes we can open the portal to Trollmarket. Can you do that?”

Jim might have nodded… or maybe he was just shaking that hard. It was difficult to tell with the mask. Blinky, however, took it as agreement.

“Excellent!” Blinky said pushing Jim forward slightly. “Aaarrrgghh…”

Before Toby could register what was happening the large troll had picked him up by the collar and deposited him onto his back. Toby automatically grabbed onto his fur. Aaarrrgghh charged forward and Bular ignored him in favor of going after Jim.

“Wait!” Toby yelled.

Bular was going to kill Jim. He had killed Kanjigar not even a week ago and that guy had been the Trollhunter for ages. Toby desperately wanted to go back to help Jim, but neither of the trolls were listening to him and fear held him in place. Besides… what could he do against Bular? He was just one changeling and the Gum-Gum _ate_ changelings. He’d _seen_ it happen once. Back when he first arrived on the surface…

They stopped under the bridge.

Toby slid off Aaarrrgghh’s back and turned toward the fight just in time to see Jim get his sword stuck in Bular’s arm. The troll roared at him and Jim dropped to the ground. He turned and started running toward them at a pace that would have made Coach Lawrence proud. 

“The horngazel!” Blinky yelled and tossed Aaarrrgghh a chunk of glowing orange crystals on a handle. “Open the portal!”

Aaarrrgghh drew an arch on the wall with the horngazel and punched the center of it. The stone with in the arch cracked with a myriad of glowing blue lines and then swirled away. Toby would have taken a moment to stare in awe if they weren’t in mortal peril. Why did all the cool things in Toby’s life have to happen when he was in danger?

“Hurry, Master… Trollhunter!” Blinky yelled

Jim, too busy running for his life, did not respond. Aaarrrgghh retreated through the portal, followed closely by Blinky. Toby stepped half through and paused.

Jim was close, but Bular was quickly gaining on him.

“Come on,” Toby muttered, shaking as adrenaline coursed through his body.

The portal was closing. Jim’s armor vanished in a flash, leaving just his regular clothes and Toby’s stupid Halloween werewolf mask. Jim put on another burst of speed, crossing the final stretch of distance, and lunged forward Bular’s swords slashing through the air just a breath behind him. Toby grabbed his arm and they fell back through the portal just as it closed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! So I am turning this into a full length fic!
> 
> I have the outline for the first part written out and am working on part two (that way if I can't finish part two I can still stop it at a good place). I will be attempting to update every third week, but I can make no guarantees, life being as it is. 
> 
> Thank you for all your thoughtful comments and reviews! I love hearing from you all.  
> (I also accept critiques and constructive criticism on my writing style so let me know if you see something I should work on)


	3. A Test of Worth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toby would like to go to sleep now.

Toby and Jim slammed into the ground in a tangle of limbs. For a moment they just lay there gasping for air and shaking then Jim managed to untangle himself and pull off the werewolf mask. He gasped in another breath before turning to Blinky.

“We almost… I almost… Bular… He almost killed us!”

“Almost: a very important word,” Blinky said, way to cheerful for how close they had just come to death. “A life of almost is a life of never!”

Jim shot him a rather incredulous look that Toby agreed with.

“Also, why did the armor shut off? I’ve been stuck in in for like 4 hours and then, when I’m finally in _actual_ danger, then it comes off…”

Blinky patted him on the shoulder.

“As I said you must expect the unexpected. Hopefully you will adjust to the armor quickly.”

Blinky began walking away from them and to the right. He took a step down and suddenly blue light filled the room as a massive spiral staircase of blue crystal lit up. Toby’s mouth fell open.

He followed warily behind Jim as Blinky began to lead them down the stairs. He reached for his phone wanting to take a picture and bumped into the cloak.

“Hey Blinky?”

“Yes Tobias?”

“Should I keep the mask on or take it off now?”

Blinky glanced back at him for a moment before his gaze shifted forward again.

“A good question,” He said tapping his chin. “I would say take it off. The population of Trollmarket is not going to be terribly happy about having not one but two humans present, but an unfamiliar cloaked figure is only going to generate curiosity. So it would be for the best that people knew you were a human from the start, otherwise they be even more upset that we snuck a second human in and didn’t tell them.”

“Okay,” Toby said reaching up to take the mask off.

“Besides,” Blinky continued. “We wouldn’t want people to mistake you for a changeling.”

Toby’s heart skipped a beat as his fingers froze curled around the edge of the mask.

“What’s a changeling?” He heard Jim ask through the roaring in his ears.

“They are trolls… of a sort… that can take on human form… In the old world Gum-Gum’s stole our young and did something _unnatural_ to change them. Their sole purpose: to spy on the world above.”

“Are those something I should be worried about?” Jim asked.

“Of course not,” Blinky said with laugh. “Changelings haven’t been seen in centuries.”

“Okay.”

“You okay?” Aaarrrgghh asked from directly behind Toby.

Toby yelped and almost fell off the side of the steps. Aaarrrgghh caught him, his large hand resting on his shoulder to hold him steady.

Jim and Blinky both turned back toward him.

“Sorry,” Toby said. His voice surprisingly gave no sign of his inner turmoil. “My braces just snagged on the fur.”

Jim winced, familiar with his dental troubles.

“Careful, long fall,” Aaarrrgghh rumbled, giving him a very gentle pat.

“Do you need help getting that off?” Jim asked taking a step back toward him.

“No, I’ve almost got it. Let’s just keep going,” Toby said quickly.

“Okay, let me know if you change your mind.”

Jim gave him a last concerned glance and then turned back toward Blinky. Toby drew in a shaky breath and took off the mask. He decided to leave the scent masking pendent on. It would hide any residual goblin odors he might be carrying.

That sorted, he squared his shoulders and continued forward, pushing the feeling of unease to the back of his mind. It was okay… they had no reason to suspect…

“So Bular can’t make it down here, right?” Jim was asking warily.

“He cannot. The incantation forbids entry to Heartstone Trollmarket by Gum-Gums, such as Bular, for they are the most fearsome of trolls…”

Toby wondered if the incantations could sense that he had changed sides or if they simply didn’t count him as a troll and therefore a Gum-Gum.

They rounded the final bend of the staircase and stopped.

“This is the world you’re bound to protect,” Blink said, gesturing grandly with pride in his voice. “This is Heartstone Trollmarket!”

The conversation of the last few minutes fled Toby’s mind along with his ability to breathe. In front of him was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. In the center of the massive cavern was a glowing orange crystal the size of a skyscraper. It pulsed with warm light and Toby could feel his own heart joining in its rhythm. 

“What is that?” He whispered.

“That is the Heartstone,” Blinky said, Aaarrrgghh softly repeating the word behind him. “The life force of trollkind. The means that keeps us from crumbling to stone and a source of light and sustenance.”

“Incredible,” Jim breathed, raw wonder filling his voice.

Toby nodded wordlessly. He had heard of heartstones. Gunmar’s throne in the Darklands was supposedly carved out of one, though he had never been close enough to feel anything from it, but this…

The closest thing he could think of was being in the sun for the first time in human form, but that wasn’t even close to what he was feeling now. It was as if some aching empty hole in his being, that he didn’t even know was there, had been finally filled…

The others had continued forward, so Toby quickly scrambled to catch up, stealing glances at the massive crystal.  

As they wandered through the market other things drew his attention. TVs full of static flickered in large piles, thousands of scents, appealing to both his forms, wafted through the air, gems and minerals of a rainbow of colors were everywhere…

Unfortunately trolls were also everywhere and they did not seem particularly happy to see him or Jim.

“Fleshbags?” One of them muttered.

“What are humans doing here?” another demanded.

More and more drew near, surrounding them.

Blinky halted and turned to address them.

“Friends, there is no need to be afraid,” He started to say.

“What is this?!” A voice roared.

The crowd parted and a huge blue troll, about the size of Bular, came stalking toward them.

“Human feet have never sullied the ground of Trollmarket,” He snarled, drawing way too close to Jim. “Who are these fleshbags?”

“Believe it or not…”

“Stand down, Draal,” A tired voice said. “I’ve been expecting them.”

Draal let out an irritated snort but stepped to the side to allow the newcomer to approach. He tilted his head respectfully. This troll was of a more upright build then Draal. His features were goatlike and his shaggy mane was dull. His clouded grey eyes looked over them before settling on Toby.

“I wish to meet the fleshbag supposedly chosen by the Amulet.”

The crowd broke into shocked murmurs at that. Draal’s eyes widened for a moment before he snarled.

The old troll ignored them and leaned down toward Toby.

“I am Vendal, son of Rundel, son of Kilfred.”

He paused clearly waiting for Toby to return the greeting.

“I… I’m Toby, grandson of Nana...” He trailed off and shot a helpless look at Blinky. What was he supposed to do now?

“Produce the amulet, Trollhunter.”

Wait… Vendal thought _he_ was the Trollhunter. He let out a yelp as the troll picked him up by the back of his sweater.

“I think I’m the fleshbag you’re looking for,” He heard Jim say weakly from somewhere to his right.

To his relief Vendal dropped him and turned to examine Jim.

Jim had produced the amulet from his pocket and gave an awkward wave.

“Hi… I’m Jim, son of Barbara… Nice to meet you?”

“I see.” Vendal did not sound particularly impressed.

He let out a low huff and turned away.

“Follow me, we shall see what the Sooth Scryer thinks of you.”

The crowd of gathered trolls murmured. Blinky’s eyes widened and he darted forward to catch up.

“Please, Vendal,” He said, trotting to keep up with the older troll’s longer strides. “Master Jim hasn’t had even an hours training. He’s…”

Vendal turned and gave him a pointed look. The six-eyed troll quieted and followed, still wringing his hands nervously. The elderly troll led them through the market to an archway in the cavern wall with a glowing sign depicting the sword Daylight hanging over it. They followed quietly though the passage and into another large cavern.

“Woah,” Jim breathed and Toby was inclined to agree.

The cavern before them looked like a palace

“Welcome to the Hero’s Forge, young Trollhunter,” Vendal said gesturing at the arena around them. “This is where your predecessors trained and were you shall as well… should you prove worthy.”

Jim swallowed loudly.

“Now come.”

Vendal indicated to a point on the ground beside him. There were two giant footprints in the stone. Jim stepped forward and stood in them, their large size emphasizing just how out of place he was.

With a low rumble a large stone pedestal rose out of the ground. On top of it was a statue that resembled an eagle on a totem pole, except with six eyes and more trollish features. There was something like spinning teeth in its open mouth and the whole thing glowed an ominous orange.

“Behold the Sooth Scryer, it will judge your true spirit. Now insert your right hand,” Vendal instructed.

“I’m going to get it back, right?” Jim asked nervously.

“That is part of the test.”

Vendal’s smile was not at all comforting.

“Tobes! Tobes,” Jim waved him over. “Give me a hand.”

Toby complied. He was honestly impressed and very concerned that Jim was going to put his arm in that thing.

He bent over and Jim scrambled up on his back. For a few moments he could just feel Jim shifting around, then Jim let out a shriek and kicked him in the face.

_Crap! It’s actually taken his hand!_ Toby thought in a panic trying to dodge Jim’s rapid kicks.

Before he do anything Jim scrambled off him. Toby quickly straightened up and let out a sigh of relief when he saw his friend still had both hands.

“So did I pass?” Jim asked, hopeful.

Vendal stared at the Sooth Scryer for a moment.

“Inconclusive,” He said with a huff.

“What does inconclusive mean?”

“It means, Trollhunter, that there’s never been a human to bear the mantel before. The Sooth Scryer needs more time to render its judgement.”

“Or perhaps it needs an opportunity to observe our new fleshbag Trollhunter in action.”

Draal strode forward, a vicious looking smirk on his face. Toby was immediately on edge.

“And what do you propose?” Vendal asked.

“A friendly sparring match, between me and the fleshbag,” Draal said, still smirking. “It will give us a good chance to see what our new Trollhunter is capable of.”

Blinky quickly moved forward.

“Hold on,” He said, waving all his hands. “Master Jim hasn’t had a chance to learn the Rules of Trollhunting yet and he’s only just learned how to don the armor. It wouldn’t be…”

“I will allow it,” Vendal interrupted.

“But…”

“If the Trollhunter hopes to stand a chance against Bular, he needs to start learning to fight as soon as possible.”

Blinky opened his mouth to protest but Vendal cut him off with a look. Blinky’s ears drooped and he began to retreat toward the side of the arena. Jim chased after him.

They exchanged some words and Jim returned to the center of the Forge looking very nervous.

Aaarrrgghh led Toby over to where Blinky was standing while wringing his hands. Draal and Jim faced each other in the center of the arena. Toby clenched his fist hard enough for the nails to bite into his flesh. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like this at all.

“Began,” Vendal said.

Draal roared and slammed his fists into the ground then charged. About half-way to Jim, he curled into a ball and began rolling. Jim dodged out of the way and Draal shot by were Toby was standing, narrowly missing him. The blue troll continued up the wall and then unrolled and dropped from the ceiling. The shockwave from him hitting the ground raised a wave of dust and sent Jim stumbling.

While Jim was still disoriented he charged forward and rammed him with his horns. The armor released a burst of blue light protecting Jim, but he still hit the ground hard.

Toby, drew in a sharp breath. He attempted to rush forward but Aaarrrgghh restrained him. He watched helplessly as the giant troll grabbed the human from the ground and began viciously beating him before chucking him away like a volleyball.

Draal was going to _kill_ Jim, Toby realized with dawning horror as the troll stalked toward his friend. He glanced up at Blinky and Aaarrrgghh. They looked anxious, but made no move to help. They were just going to let it happen.

Toby snarled quietly and took a step back toward Aaarrrgghh. As the behemoth’s hand loosened, he ducked under it and charged forward. The two trainers yelled for him to stop but he ignored them.

Draal was just leaning down to pick Jim up again but turned at the commotion. Toby didn’t hesitate. He lunged forward and drove his foot into Draal’s gronk-nucks as hard as he could. It felt about like he imagined kicking a rock wall would feel, but it had its intended effect as Draal dropped to the ground with a snarl of pain.

There wasn’t time to dwell on his own pain. Taking advantage of the warrior’s moment of incapacitation, Toby grabbed his horns and managed to pull himself up onto his head. Hopefully from there he could get access to Draal’s eyes or throat. Unfortunately, Draal recovered quickly. He stood up and whipped his head back and forth violently dislodging the changeling. Toby scrambled to his feet and saw Draal charging toward him with murder in his eyes. He turned and hightailed it toward the entrance. If he could reach there, he could maybe drop the gate down on Draal. If not, there were other things he could try to climb at least and Draal’s maneuverability would be cut down in the tight space.

Draal caught up to him before he made it. Toby tensed and flailed as he grabbed him by the shoulder. Draal ignored the lashing limbs and slammed him into the ground hard enough to knock the air out of him. Toby stilled as the large blue troll towered over him.

“Let this be a lesson for you,” He snarled, leaning in close as he pinned Toby down with his right hand.

Shaking, the changeling tilted his head up, baring his throat, and averted his eyes. He really hoped that Draal wouldn’t go too far. Toby ending up in the hospital would attract far too much attention... If he survived that was…

Before Draal could do anything else, there was a raw throated yell that Toby recognized as Jim’s and Draal bellowed in pain. He stepped back and grabbed at his arm, which was now sporting a new gash. Not very deep, but apparently painful. Toby barely had a moment to register what was happening before Jim was between them. He was holding himself like his ribs were hurting. His eyes were wide and his breath was fast, but there a stubborn set to his jaw Toby hadn’t seen before.

“Are you okay?” He asked without looking away from Draal.

“Yeah…” Toby said, still in shock.

He struggled to his feet. His toes ached abominably and he was definitely going to have bruises.

Draal let go of the cut on his arm and dropped to all fours with a snarl. Toby tensed, he had no weapon and didn’t dare shift, but he could at least serve as a distraction. Maybe if he threw his cloak over Draal’s head…

Before either of them could act Vendal’s voice rang over the arena.

“That’s enough!”

Draal snarled again but stepped back.

“You’re lucky your friend has more guts that you, fleshbag,” He said to Jim before turning away from them to exit the Forge.

Toby bit down on the urge to snarl at him. Jim wasn’t the one walking out of this with a large scar on his forearm. He didn’t have much time to dwell on the insult because Jim’s armor vanished with a flash of light as he surged forward to hug Toby.

“I can’t believe we just did that!” Jim said, laughing a little hysterically.

Toby burrowed into the hug ignoring the pain.

“Me neither,” He said shakily.

His fingers curled into Jim’s cardigan and as he tried to process what had just happened. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it all, but there was a hint of hope there. Maybe he was wrong about Jim becoming Trollhunter. Maybe they could survive this.

* * *

 

Aaarrrgghh watch with quiet relief as the younglings celebrated. He knew Draal wouldn’t kill them, but it had still scared him to see the aggression with which Kanjigar’s son attacked two inexperienced humans. Blinky jogged over to join them.

“Tobias,” He said, turning to the smaller fleshbag when he was done congratulating Jim. “You must not jump in like that. You don’t have any protection or weapon, Draal could have seriously hurt you.”

The youngling snorted at that. Aaarrrgghh could see bruises on him and suspected he was more injured than he was letting on.

“Look,” He said in an irritated tone. “I’m not going to just stand back and let someone try to…. Let someone wail on my friend…”

Blinky laid a hand on his shoulder with a frown.

“I admire your loyalty, Young Tobias, but…”

“Could train him,” Aaarrrgghh offered, causing everyone to look at him.

Blinky was still frowning slightly, but Toby looked hopeful. Aaarrrgghh paused brows furrowing as he tried to force his thoughts into words.

“Toby will join fight… because Jim fighting…” He glanced at the boy in question, the fleshbag nodded, so he went on. “Better to give weapon and training. Better for Jim too… Toby makes Trollhunter stronger.”

Aaarrrgghh nodded to himself satisfied. Blinky looked thoughtful. Toby’s eyes were wide, but Aaarrrgghh noted that he had straightened up and looked a little less defensive.

“He’s right,” Jim said giving his friend a smile. “I wouldn’t have been able to strike back against Draal if Toby hadn’t first.”

Blinky looked at them for a moment then nodded.

“I see… Yes… Okay!” He clapped his hands together. “Very well then! We shall take you to the armory and find a suitable weapon for you. Then you shall start training with Jim.”

“Really?!”

“Indeed. Aaarrrgghh is right, just because he and I are not fighters doesn’t mean we should expect you to stand on the sidelines, but be prepared: A warrior’s training is not for the faint of heart.”

“I’m fine with that,” Toby said bearing his teeth in an eager grin.

Aaarrrgghh didn’t doubt it. Unlike his friend, the boy moved as if he had been in fights before. As Blinky and the two boys talked some more, Aaarrrgghh watched the smaller one carefully. There was something about him, something important, he could feel it in his horns. He might not be bright and quick of tongue like Blinky but his instincts were seldom wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! This was a busy chapter.  
> Poor Toby, it's just one scare after another for him. He needs a nice long vacation. Unfortunately things are only getting started.
> 
> This chapter borrows a lot of dialogue from cannon, but changes are in affect.
> 
> Question for y'all: What day of the week do you think I should update on?  
> (I'm sticking with the every third week schedule)


	4. Butterfly Wings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toby does not get to go to sleep.

The walk back from Trollmarket was quiet. Toby and Jim had once again donned their disguises. Aaarrrgghh accompanied them, keeping a look out for Bular, who was fortunately nowhere to be seen. It gave Toby time to think over the events of the evening and make some plans.

Bular would now be watching for them, they would have to be more careful. It was also time for Toby to make sure the trolls stopped coming over to Jim and his houses. The longer they kept coming the more likely the goblins were to notice them, or vice versa. He wasn’t sure which would be worse…

They reached woods behind Jim’s house and Aaarrrgghh stopped.

“Hey big guy?”

Aaarrrgghh turned to look at him.

“I was wondering if we could maybe start meeting somewhere else? Or maybe we could have one of those horngazel thingies?”

“What for?” Jim asked, readjusting his werewolf mask.

“Well I was just thinking… that Bular guy?” It felt weird calling him that. “Well he was waiting for us outside Trollmarket. Maybe he can’t get in but what if he follows us home?”

“Being careful,” Aaarrrgghh said.

“I know, but can’t he track _your_ scent?”

The large troll blinked, understanding dawning on his face.

“I was just thinking that Jim and I could go somewhere and put on our disguises there and then meet you. If you’re not with us Bular won’t be able to follow us home because we have the scent masking pendants.”

Aaarrrgghh hummed thoughtfully.

“Will ask. Where meet tomorrow?”

Toby glanced at Jim.

“How about at the library?” Jim suggested after a moment. “We can work on our homework there and no one will think it’s suspicious that we’re hanging about late. Do you know where the library is?”

Aaarrrgghh nodded, eyes crinkling as he smiled.

“Yes. Blinky _love_ library.”

* * *

 

Toby waited until he was sure Jim was safely in his house before entering his own. He stared at it forlornly. He really wanted to just go to sleep, but he couldn’t have his house smelling like trolls.

He sighed, went to the cleaning closet, and began taking out the supplies. With one last longing glance toward his room he got to work.

After he’d scrubbed and mopped every inch of the house, he snuck out to the shed to stash his disguise and retrieve the lawn fertilizer. It would mask the troll scent out there. If the goblins’ smelled them in the woods they would hopefully assume then that the trolls had simply passed by.

He got his lawn done and then did Jim’s for good measure. If Blinky and Aaarrrgghh didn’t go with either of his suggestions they were going to have the greenest lawns in all of Arcadia.

The sun was already peeking over the horizon when he returned to the house to vacuum.

He finished that, emptied the bag into the outside trash and came back inside just in time to hear his alarm go off upstairs. Toby groaned and leaned his head up against the wall.

“This is so _not_ awesome sauce…”

After a moment he removed himself, grudgingly resigned the fact that he would be running on zero sleep, and went over to the coffee maker.

* * *

 

“Hey Tobes?” Jim asked hesitantly as they tied their bikes up outside the school.

“Hmmm?”

Toby took a sip of his… well coffee would probably not be quite accurate. It was really just caffeinated sludge.

“Did you get _any_ sleep last night?”

“Yes,” Toby lied, as he chewed on some grounds.

“Because if you didn’t you might want to…”

“Lake! You flipping buttsnack!”

Toby closed his eyes and counted to ten. Maybe it wasn’t too late to just go home…

“Where have you been?” Steve demanded, stalking toward them. “I scheduled your buttwhooping for yesterday, jerkface, and you didn’t show.”

He leaned into Jim’s space and Toby was immediately reminded of Draal.

“Tick-tok. Remember?”

Toby was way too tired to deal with this.

“I’ve been busy,” Jim said looking _almost_ as tired as Toby.

“Well I guess it’s your lucky day,” Steve said. “Because I’ve rescheduled to now.”

“What?” Jim’s eyes widened. “Now?!”

“Of course. It’s not like you have anything better to do.”

A crowd was starting to form around them. Eli, Mary Wang and some kid Toby didn’t recognize were already watching with anxious expressions. Darci Scott and Claire Nuñez rounded the corner and Claire held up an arm to stop her friend.

“Well? You ready?” Steve was getting more wound up with the attention.

“You know what?” Jim said, straightening up. “ _No_. This is stupid.”

“What did you just say?” Steve sounded both shocked and incredibly slighted.

“I said this is stupid. There are hundred things more important than fanning your ego.”

Around them the crowd was whispering. Toby could relate. It seemed that taking on a couple trolls had really helped Jim get over his fear of Steve. To be fair Steve was kind of underwhelming after once one had met Bular.

Toby shook his head to clear out the cobwebs and moved to stand more squarely beside Jim.

“He’s right. This _is_ stupid… Especially for _you._ ”

Steve shot him a glare, but his attention remained on Jim.

“If you get caught fighting, you’ll get a mark on your record. Get enough of those and you can kiss your spot on the football team good-bye.”

Okay _now_ he had the bully’s attention.

“Don’t flipping threaten me,” He snarled at Toby.

Jim tensed beside him, hands curling into fists.

“Then stop threatening us,” Toby responded easily.

He took a sip of his caffeine sludge and stared back at Steve, giving him the most vicious glare he could muster.

Steve paled, all the fight going out of his expression to be replaced with fear and confusion.

“What the… What the flip was that?!”

Jim and Toby exchanged a puzzled expression.

“What was what?”

“The thing you just…”

Steve took a step back and then straightened up, resuming his usual sneer. He would have looked intimidating, except that his gaze kept darting back to Toby every other second.

“You know what?” He said throwing his hands up. “You’re right. This is stupid. I have better things to do than deal with you buttsnacks.”

And with that he stalked off.

“Well that was weird,” Jim muttered.

The crowd broke into a cheer and everyone rushed forward. Toby couldn’t remember ever being this popular. It was kind of nice. He should tell off Steve more often.

Unfortunately their moment of glory was cut short by the bell.

As they turned to rush off toward class Toby noticed Claire was watching him.

* * *

 

The first half of the school day passed quickly. Mr. Strickler’s class was the only one Toby was truly awake for. Nevertheless he was still thankful when the bell rang signaling the end of third period and the start of lunch.

“Hi Mr. Strickler.”

Jim’s voice started Toby out of his dazed state.

“Hello Jim,” Strickler said with an easy smile.

The smile flickered for a moment as he turned his gaze to Toby.

“My apologies for interrupting, but I need to borrow your friend for a moment.”

Suddenly Toby was _very_ awake. It took all his self-control to keep a somewhat calm demeanor and paste on a smile.

Jim, unaware of the potential conflict brewing, nodded and started to turn away.

“Okay. I’ll go get us seats. See you, Tobes!”

He gave Toby a wave and disappeared down the hall, leaving him all alone.

“Follow me, Domzalski,” Strickler said sharply, dropping his façade now that they were alone.

Toby swallowed and obeyed, falling into step with the older changeling. They reached Stricklander’s office and Toby hesitated for a moment before following him in and closing the door.

Mr. Strickler took a seat behind his desk and indicated with his head for Toby to do the same.

“Soooo? What’s up?”

“I believe we’ve talked about the importance of _not_ revealing your true nature to humans?”

Toby’s fear was abruptly replaced with confusion.

“…Yes?”

“Then why in Gunmar’s name would you go and flash your eyes at a teenager?”

“…I what now?” Clearly Toby needed another cup of coffee. He had probably fallen asleep and was dreaming this conversation. Nana would wake him any time now.

Mr. Strickler sighed and folded his hands in front of him.

“This morning,” He said pointedly. “I believe Mr. Palchuck was trying to start trouble with you and Mr. Lake. Apparently you flashed your eyes at him to make him back off.”

Toby blinked, slowly processing. Now that he thought about it that would explain Steve’s reaction.

“Oops?” He said giving Mr. Strickler a nervous smile. “I swear it was an accident?”

Mr. Strickler sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I suspected that was the case,” He frowned and stood up from his chair. “That being said, I can’t have changelings _carelessly_ exposing us to humans because they can’t keep their wits about them when a bullheaded adolescent tries to goad them into a fight. You are lucky that Steve was the only one to see. It was a small enough thing that he will likely write it off as a figment of his imagination and we won’t have to do anything.”

“Sorry, sir,” Toby said, also standing up.

“Sorry isn’t enough, you must learn from your mistakes.”

“It won’t happen again.”

“I’m glad, but just to make sure, you will be on call for cleanup for the rest of the month. Starting now. Hopefully _that_ shall drive home the importance of secrecy.”

That was going to make things complicated.

“But …”

“Do you have a problem with my decision, Mr. Domzalski?” Strickler asked in a pointed tone.

Toby quickly straightened to attention.

“Of course not. No sir, Mr. Strickler, sir!” He added in a salute for good measure.

Mr. Strickler rolled his eyes.

“Good,” he said, settling back down into his desk. “You are dismissed.”

Toby waited until he was out in the hall and well away from Mr. Strickler’s office to heave a sigh of relief. He decided to drop by the bathroom before joining Jim; he needed some time to calm down and stop shaking.

He had honestly thought that Stricklander _knew_. That he was going to try to force him to spy on Jim for the Janus Order.

A month on call for clean-up still wasn’t good, though. There was no way something wouldn’t happen in that amount of time. Toby needed to start planning excuses so the trolls wouldn’t get suspicious if he missed training at Trollmarket or had to leave abruptly. 

He groaned and started digging around in his backpack for a Nougat Nummy to soothe his nerves. Things just kept getting more and more complicated.

Hopefully Mr. Strickler was right and Steve would just forget about the whole thing instead of adding to the mess.

* * *

 

Jim made it through all of his homework before it got dark. He glanced at the window and leaned back in his chair to stretch. To his right Toby was sprawled out across the table snoring away, a little line of drool seeping out of his mouth. Jim probably should have woken him up hours ago so he could get his homework done, but given how tired his friend was he felt it was better to let him rest. That and Jim felt rather guilty that it was really his fault that Toby wasn’t getting enough sleep.

Blinky and Aaarrrgghh would arrive pretty soon… or would it be just Aaarrrgghh tonight?

He glanced outside again. It was dark. Time to wake Toby.

He tried calling his name but had no success. Jim glanced around until he located a piece of scrap paper. He grabbed it and backed up until there was about a table’s length of space between him and Toby. His friend had been on edge with all the craziness going on so better safe than sorry. He wadded the paper into a ball and aimed it at Toby’s shoulder.

His little league experience had stuck with him and he hit his target on the first shot. As soon as the wad of paper made contact Toby burst out of the chair with yelp, swinging his fist in the direction of the disturbance. Encountering only air, he twisted around eyes darting rapidly until they landed on Jim.

Jim gave a little wave.

“Hey Tobes,” He said keeping his voice soft. “It’s dark out. Time to go.”

Toby blinked a few times, his expression relaxing for a moment before his brows furrowed.

“Wait… How long have I been sleeping?”

Jim moved to stand beside him.

“About three hours…”

“Three hours!” Toby squawked, before wincing when several people turned to glare at him.

“Three hours?!” He repeated more quietly, giving Jim a slight glare. “Why didn’t you wake me up? Mr. Strickler’s not going to be happy if I turn in my essay late.”

Jim wasn’t quite sure why he wasn’t worried about his other classes. Maybe his grade was down and that was why their history teacher called him to his office earlier.

“Sorry,” Jim said, holding his hands up. “I was just worried because you’ve looked so tired all day.”

Jim frowned.

“You could stay home tonight if you…”

“No!” Toby said quickly, tensing. “Not happening.”

“Okay,” Jim said.

He really should have argued some more. Jim was the one the amulet had chosen, Toby didn’t need to be missing sleep for him but… but he was really glad Toby had decided to come with him. He felt safer with his friend beside him. He knew he was being selfish, but somehow he just couldn’t really make himself do anything about it… Besides… Toby was _happier_ knowing what was going on anyway so it wasn’t like he was forcing his friend or anything.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Jim tossed Toby the bag with his cloak in it and they left the library to look for a place to put on their disguises.

* * *

 

The first thing Blinky did when Toby and Jim arrived at Hero’s Forge was to lead Toby to an alcove he hadn’t noticed before.

“If you are to be joining Master Jim in his training, you must have a proper weapon.”

Toby felt a grin slowly forming on his face. His fingers twitched as his gaze darted over the weapons before him. He’d never had access to such a selection.

There were axes and swords and spears… and a wrench? He wasn’t sure what to make of _that_ one... But Toby’s gaze was immediately drawn to the large hammer resting on the floor. It had a long pole with an orange crystal head. Reminded of his own warhammer, Toby immediately grabbed it. Unfortunately, after struggling to lift it, he was forced to acknowledge that it was too heavy for him to wield in his current form. Not effectively anyway.

He staggered back to the weapons rack and dropped it with a resounding thud.

After a moment of contemplation he picked out a small double headed battle ax. Toby checked the head and, finding it to be in good condition, gave it an experimental swing. He grinned. The balance was right.

“I’ll take this one,” Toby said, turning back to Blinky.

He found himself face to face with Aaarrrgghh instead. Toby let out a yelp and stumbled backward, nearly dropping the ax.

“Sorry,” Aaarrrgghh said. “Blinky with Jim.”

Toby looked where the Krubera was pointing. Sure enough, Jim was standing in the center of the arena with Daylight drawn. Blinky appeared to be correcting his posture. Toby hefted the ax over his shoulder and began walking, Aaarrrgghh moved to follow. Toby tensed then shifted to the side and slowed his pace slightly so the large troll was beside him instead.

Aaarrrgghh glanced at him, ears drooping slightly.

“Sorry.”

Toby looked at him in surprise before realizing that how he had likely interpreted Toby’s actions.

“No, no!” He said with a slightly awkward laugh. “You didn’t do anything… It’s just that…” _Come on, Toby think up a good lie._ “It’s just when I was little there were a lot of bullies and…”

“Bull lies?”

“Bullies… Um… Mean people,” Toby clarified. Aaarrrgghh made a sound of understanding. “They used to play nasty jokes on me, so I get a little jumpy about having people behind me sometimes.” Not completely a lie. He just hadn’t specified that it only applied to trolls and other changelings… and Steve. The jerk had tried to give him a wedgie a few times. After he had gotten his payback that hadn’t happened again but he still didn’t trust the boy.

“Oh,” Aaarrrgghh said. He frowned slightly, then tilted his head up slightly giving Toby a sincere look. “Won’t do that. Toby friend.”

Toby stopped, caught off guard by his gesture and words. He blinked quickly.

“Th-Thank-you.”

“Welcome,” Aaarrrgghh said and smiled at him.

“Tobias!” Blinky called. “It’s time for the first lesson.”

Toby and Aaarrrgghh hurried over. Blinky turned to look at them and nodded.

“You have chosen battle ax, I see. A respectable choice in weaponry, though I fear I shall have to instruct you on its use separate from Jim as swords require very different training,” He clapped his hands together. “Fortunately our first lesson will carry you through the perilous world of Trollhunting regardless of your weapon.”

He straightened up and half his eyes focused on Jim and half on Toby.

“It is time that you learn the Three Rules of Trollhunting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Subplot is a go! This should be fun.


	5. Up All Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaarrrgghh is a lifesaver as always and Toby wishes he actually got paid for his side-job.

Toby liked the Three Rules of Trollhunting far more than the Changeling Code, he decided as he and Jim climbed slowly up the crystal stairs. They were much more straightforward and pretty much boiled down to: stay alert, don’t start fights you don’t want to finish and hit where it hurts.

They reached the top of the stairs and Jim pulled out the horngazel Blinky had given him. Toby stared at it longingly. What he wouldn’t give for a chance to take one apart and see how it worked. The troll’s tools seemed to generally consist of a magic stone or crystal of some variety powering a set of runes. Toby, as a very low ranking changeling, had never really gotten the clearance to know more.

“Toby?”

He blinked and quickly closed his mouth. Jim was giving him a curious look.

“Sorry,” He said with a sheepish smile. “I zoned out.”

Jim nodded and turned back to the rock wall in front of them. Toby watched with fascination as he drew the arch and opened the portal. 

“That is so the bomb…”

Jim grinned as he pulled on his mask.

“I know right?”

He stepped through the portal and Toby followed. The glowing blue energy had a soothing welcoming feel, unlike the chaotic electric touch of the Fetch.

Jim slipped the horngazel into his shoulder bag and re-adjusted his mask.

“I really need to master that helmet soon,” He grumbled.

“Yeah, I’ve gotta have _something_ to wear for next Halloween… At least you don’t randomly get stuck in your armor anymore.”

“I suppose so,” Jim sighed.

They begin to make their way back up the embankment to where they had stashed their bikes.

“It’s too bad we can’t use this for gym class credit,” Toby said, rubbing at his sore arms. “That was definitely worth a couple weeks.”

Blinky was no lightweight as far as training went. He made Coach Lawrence look like a softy. 

Additionally while he did give them instruction, he seemed to be the type who believed in learning on the job. As a result they were doing a lot of running for their lives. Or at least that’s what it felt like. If it wasn’t for the way he listened to Toby’s concerns and would occasionally give one of them a caring pat on the arm or back, he might have thought the troll was trying to kill them off.

His train of thought was cut off by Jim’s amulet letting out a sharp ping. They both glanced at it. 

“What’s it doing…”

Something large and black hurtled into them. At the exact moment it struck Jim, the amulet released a concussive burst of light flinging both Toby and their assailant away from him. Toby rolled and came up on his feet. He quickly made sure his cloak was still properly covering him, before looking up.

He froze.

It was Bular. The large black troll was pulling himself out of the bushes were the light had just flung him.

Toby quickly ran over to Jim, who was also getting up.

“Come on, J- Trollhunter, time to run,” He hissed urgently.

Jim looked up and saw Bular, who was up and charging them again, let out a yelp and bolted, Toby on his heels. There was no way they were going to be able to outrun Bular and he was between them and their bikes.

“Come on! _Come on!_ Through the trees!” 

The trees did slow him down but not quite as much as Toby had hoped. The Dark Prince crashed through them, snapping decades old timber like it was toothpicks. In a minute they reached the end of the woods. There was nothing but open space between them and the houses.

Jim stopped.

Toby skidded to a halt a moment after.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ll hold him off,” Jim said, shoulders tense. “You get to safety.”

“No!” Toby snapped. “Are you crazy?! If you’re fighting, I’m fighting.”

He pulled the ax off his back and moved to stand beside Jim. He could feel himself shaking. He wondered if the pendent masked the scent of his fear.

“Toby…”

There was no more time for discussion. Bular was upon them. Jim dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding getting his head, or at least his mask, removed. Toby took advantage of the moment and brought his ax down on Bular’s outstretched arm.

The troll roared and whipped back around to slam him into a tree. His vision flickered for a moment. Jim let out a yell and Toby struggled to stand up. His head throbbed abominably and he cursed his weak fleshy body. If he was in his other form…

That was it!

With the cloak on no one could see what he looked like. He wasn’t shaped much differently as a troll. For once his small size was to his advantage.

He waited until Jim had Bular distracted before transforming. As he hoped, the cloak blocked most of the orange yellow glow. His teeth were sharp in his mouth as he grinned and charged forward, head no longer ringing.

The blow he landed on Bular elicited a roar. The troll turned around with a snarl and drew both of his swords. Toby whimpered, his ears pinning back under his mask.

He managed to bring up his ax just in time to block a slash that would have decapitated him. Bular leaned into it forcing him to the ground. In human form Toby would have been done for but, as it was, he was still way outmatched. Bular’s rancid breath made Toby’s hackles go up. He smelled of blood, both fresh and old.

There was a flash of blue as Jim attempted to land a blow on Bular’s back, but the troll must have heard it coming. He brought up his other sword and used the push-through of the motion to throw the human off. Jim bounced hard when he hit the ground but managed to struggle back to his feet. A few more hits like that and he wouldn’t be able to. They needed to get out of here quickly.

Toby took advantage of Bular’s distraction with Jim to roll out from under Bular’s sword. The troll made a grab for him and he narrowly dodged out of the way. His foot caught in something and he went down hard.

He glanced down, it was an old sewage pipe. Toby’s face split into a grin.

“J- Trollhunter!” Toby yelled. “Copy me!”

Toby swung his ax into the ground as hard as he could and the pipe began to crumble. Jim must have heard him because he immediately did the same with his sword.

Except that when Jim did it, Daylight released a flash of violent blue energy. 

Toby scrambled quickly away from the light. The pipe broke open with a crash and Bular dropped into the ground. The troll’s eyes widened for a moment then narrowed with fury as he struggled to free himself.

“I will skin you and use your hides to stuff your entrails,” He roared.

“Now we run,” Toby said.

Jim nodded rapidly.

They made it about half way across the field before a louder roar caused Toby to glance back. Bular was free and once again in pursuit.

This was complete _bushigal_. Jim was starting to flag and Toby, still in troll form, had to slow down to not lose him.

He cursed again under his breath. If Bular caught them now, in the open field, they were toast.

Before he could even try to figure out what to do something slammed into them from the right.

Toby barely managed to hold back a snarl as he was flung into the air and landed on something…

Fluffy?

It was Aaarrrgghh!

He dug his fingers into the giant’s fur and quickly switched forms. They needed to be able to move as fast as possible so it was a risk he had to take. Beside him Jim scrambled for purchase. Toby didn’t think he had noticed.

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you,” Toby yelled as he clung to the troll. “But what are you doing here?”

“Was worried,” Aaarrrgghh said, his voice sending vibrations through Toby’s stone. “Hold on.”

They shot through the rest of the field into the suburbs. Passing dimly lit and darkened houses. In one yard a tall black haired man stared in shock as they passed by. Toby cringed at the blatant violation of his training, but there was no time for subtlety. Hopefully he would have the sense to not say anything.

Soon they were in the main part of the city, Aaarrrggh dodged from side to side as Bular began throwing things at them.

Eventually they managed to lose him. Aaarrrgghh stopped by a dumpster.

“Down. now,” he panted. “Will lead him away.”

“Will you be okay?” Toby asked fearfully, Jim’s body language mirroring his.

“Yes,” The troll grinned. “Quicker alone. See you later.”

He stayed long enough for a fist bump and then bolted.

Toby and Jim jumped behind a dumpster just before Bular went by. 

* * *

 

It was a long tense walk home. Toby and Jim had decided to wait until morning to retrieve their bikes. Toby almost wanted to weep for joy when he saw their little corner of the suburb.

Unfortunately for him, his night wasn’t quite over yet. The moment they came to a stop in front of their houses, Toby’s phone pinged. He pulled it out and grimaced.

“Who is it?” Jim asked automatically, leaning over his shoulder to look. “A solicitor huh?”

“Yeah, I should probably stop filling out all those free-prize things,” Toby said, tucking his phone back into his pocket. It was just as he suspected.

“So do you want to…” Jim started to ask.

“Sorry,” Toby cut him off before he could finish. “I got to go. I promised Nana I’d…” His brain scrambled for the first excuse it could find. “I’d help her with her dentures.”

 _Wow, good one Dumbzalski,_ He thought sarcastically.

“Okay…” Jim gave him a bit of a strange look, which was really quite understandable, then looked away for a moment and rubbed at his neck. “I guess it was a bit of a long night. We should get some sleep.”

He glanced back at Toby again and offered him a little half-smile that made Toby’s heart twinge for some reason.

“See you tomorrow?”

“Of course,” Toby said.

* * *

 

Toby wrapped his ax and cloak in the scent masking pendent and then hid them in the shed. The goblins almost never went in there because they didn’t like some of the chemicals Nana used on their garden.

He glanced at his room and noted the light was on. It hadn’t been on when he left.

He crept quietly into the house and up the stairs. The door was open a crack. He peered in and felt his shoulders relax, it was his goblins. Three of them were sitting in a circle playing Candy Land. Hopefully they wouldn’t eat any of the cards this time. He opened the door and entered.

Kracka was the first to turn to look. He gave Toby a smirk and nodded. Min glanced at him for a moment before turning back to glare at the board with half lidded eyes. Foon on the other hand, threw down the dice it was holding and darted over to Toby to clamber up his back and onto his left shoulder.

“Woah there,” He yelped. “Watch the claws.”

Kracka shot the younger goblin a glare and it lowered its head and quickly shifted to Toby’s right shoulder. Kracka relented.

Toby glanced around the room.

“Is Bob here tonight too?”

Kracka nodded and poked something behind him. A blearily head poked out the sheets. The goblin’s eyes shifted slowly around the room before landing on Toby.

 _Hi Bob,_ He signed.

She nodded at him and gave a little half salute before settling back down.

With greetings out of the way, Kracka offered Toby the yellow gingerbread man. Toby sighed and shook his head.

“Sorry guys I’d love to join you but I have cleaning duty tonight.”

He had their attention at that. Bob glanced at them and then at Toby. He signed _Clean-up_ to her. Her eyes brightened with interest.

Kracka tossed his board game piece aside and then scrambled up onto Toby’s left shoulder.

“Coming along huh?”

Kracka grinned and nodded.

“Okay.”

Kracka and Foon jumped over the crackle of light as Toby shifted. He patted around checking to make sure he still had his mask and hammer on him. Good. They were both there. Wouldn’t do to go to anything involving other changelings without them. He set the mask to the side before switching back and grabbing a nondescript dark-grey hoodie from his closet along with his backpack. Kracka and Foon crawled into the backpack as Toby put on his hoodie. Bob climbed up his leg and into the front pocket.

“Are you coming?” He asked Min.

Min shook its head and crawled up onto Toby’s bed. It turned a couple circles before curling up into the blankets.

“Suit yourself,” He said with a shrug.

Time to go.

* * *

 

Toby glanced around anxiously as he waited at the bus stop and pulled his hood up over his mask. After a short wait, a bus with the route number 2 pulled up.

“Are you sure you have the right route, kid?” The driver, an elderly Chinese man with a chip missing from his ear, asked.

“Does this bus stop between today and tomorrow?” Toby responded, flashing his eyes.

The driver flashed his eyes back.

“Show your pass.”

Toby opened the link on the ‘spam’ text and held it up to the scanner. There was a soft ping and the driver closed the door.

Toby scrambled to find a seat as the bus pulled away from the station. Fortunately there were only six other people tonight. All wore nondescript clothing like Toby. One nodded at him as he passed but the rest ignored him.

The ride was short and quiet, the bus pulled to a stop in the center of the trail of destruction Bular had created. The other changelings disembarked from the bus, Toby following carefully behind them.

A stocky light skinned woman was waiting for them. Unlike the other changelings she wore no mask, her square scar-crossed face on display. Toby had met Alfhild a few times before. She worked full time for the Janus Order; she had no cover and therefore no need to protect her identity. Her blue-white eyes watched them sharply as they approached, before she grinned a toothy smile and clapped her hands together.

“Excellent,” She said, voice entirely too loud for the late night street. “You’re all here. This is just a quick cover-up job. Make it look like the damage is from a drunk driver. If all goes well we’ll be home in time to get some good sleep… Or hit the bars before they close.”

With that she started addressing the individual changelings.

“997, 1176, you’re both in the woods tonight. Cover any of our Dark Prince’s tracks. Make it look like someone was doing some illegal logging. You will be using the truck I brought.”

The two changelings nodded and left.

“1607 retrieve any security footage you can find regarding the culprits and clean the tapes.”

Toby felt a pulse of fear. Sure he and Jim had worn their disguises but what if…

“1870.” Toby snapped to attention at his number. “1223 You two are in charge of covering claw marks and making sure anything that can’t be passed off as car damage is unrecognizable. Your tools are inside the undercarriage of the bus.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

Kracka popped out of Toby’s pack with a disappointed grumble, drawing Alfhild’s attention. Toby tensed as she approached. She might have been only about five feet, but she had a much bigger presence.

“You brought Goblins?”

Kracka and Foon climbed out onto Toby’s shoulders, he felt Bob stir in his pocket.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Excellent, I have a job for them later. Bring them by when you’re done.”

* * *

 

Toby and the other changelings made quick work of the trail of destruction. The Janus Order generally tried to leave as much work as they could to the city. Only taking care of anything that might draw suspicion to their cause.

“You had a job for the goblins Ma’am?” Toby asked moving back to stand before Alfhild.

Kracka perked up and grinned at her. She reached into her pocket, pulled something out and tossed it to him. The goblin caught it and Toby craned his neck to see what it was. It was a set of car keys.

“They get to crash a car.”

Kracka whooped and scrambled down Toby’s side to wake Bob, Foon hot on his heels. They were always down for some vandalism and chaos. Toby watched apprehensively as they bounded off to get into the, no doubt stolen, car. Hopefully they would survive the crash fine.

The other changelings returned settling down as safe distance away from the road as the goblins began revving up the vehicle.

“And they’re off.”

The car screeched down the road, careening off lamp-posts and stop signs as the goblins hollered and waved in excitement. Toby waved back as they went by, tensing when they shot directly toward a small flower shop.

The car crumpled when it slammed into the wall, taking out the window and some of the brickwork. Smoke billowed from its engine.

“Aaaand that’s a wrap,” Alfhild said, turning back toward the watching changelings. “Back into the bus with you all. Chop. Chop. I’ve got just enough time to make it to L.A before sunrise and I’m not wasting it.”

The other changelings obeyed, all too ready to head home, but Toby waited anxiously. The car door slammed open and he relaxed as three green forms emerged. They were a little charred, but all in all unharmed.

“Come on guys,” Toby said holding out his arm, the goblins scrambled up, resuming their usual places.

He turned back around, ready to head to the bus and found Alfhild watching him. He tensed slightly before forcing himself to act casual.

“Are planning to become a goblin trainer?” She asked, watching him with a slight tilt to her head.

“Maybe…” He said not wanting to show his attachment. Though now that he thought about it…

“Hmmm,” She nodded and then dismissed him.

He darted back to the bus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Toby gets his first clean-up duty. The next one won't be quite as nice.
> 
> On the goblins' pronouns:  
> In this story the goblins are genderless, so they are using pronouns to designate position. (Partially because I used he for Kracka in the first chapter and don't feel like correcting it)  
> Swarm leader(s): They/them  
> Offensive specialized: He/him  
> Defensive specialized: She/her  
> Unspecialized/generic address: it  
> If the goblin changes specialization its pronouns will change accordingly.
> 
> I am trying to be better about describing people so be sure to let me know how I'm doing. I will appreciate any tips.


	6. A Small Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang encounters a pint-sized pest.

Toby was practically drooling as he stared at the strange and colorful crystals the vender was selling.

"Close your mouth, Tobes," He heard Jim say with a snicker.

Okay. Maybe he actually _was_ drooling, but could he really be blamed? They didn't sell these kind of things on the surface.

"Sooo, how much are these?" He asked the shopkeeper, a stout, light grey troll about a head taller than Blinky. He leaned against the table and tried not to look too interested.

"What've ya got?" The shopkeeper asked in a gruff bored tone.

Toby blinked. _Did_ the trolls here have a currency? They ate the metals humans prized for their own currency. He looked around him at the different stalls trying to see if he could spot a transaction, unfortunately most of the trolls were just talking.

In the Darklands, while it was generally every troll for themself, they did do some bartering. Toby himself had been rather skilled in finding and extracting valuable gems and minerals. It had not gotten him very far in a society based on violence, especially when the other changelings kept stealing from him. Eventually he had put a stop to _that_ by crushing some stinger crystal and putting it in an offending troll's food; the results were not pretty but it did the job…

"Toby we need to get going," Jim said, tapping his shoulder.

"Right!" Toby shook himself back to the present. "Let me just try something first."

He turned back toward the shopkeeper, who was now polishing what looked like a glowing amethyst on a stone wheel.

"Sir? Sir!" The troll pulled the crystal back and turned toward him with a grunt.

"What kind of things are you looking for?"

"What've ya got?" The troll repeated, making Toby feel a bit like he was talking to an NPC in a video game.

"Nothing at the moment…" The troll started turning away. "But! I happen to have unlimited access to the surface." Toby's gaze darted around quickly cataloguing the wares at the other stands. "Socks… blankets, tin cans… lightbulbs, you name it I can get it for you!"

Now he had the troll's interest. The troll's eyes, grey-brown and translucent (smoky quartz maybe?), sized Toby up. The changeling carefully kept his pose casual.

"Hmmm… Come later and A'll give ya a list. Bring that stuff and w'll talk."

"You got it," Toby said shooting him finger-guns and winking for good measure.

Jim let out a groan, before grabbing his arm and dragging him off.

* * *

"Trollhunter!"

Toby jumped as a portly troll lady barged in on their history lesson.

He shot her a look of annoyance as Blinky turned toward her. He had actually been enjoying himself. Aaarrrgghh was quite comfortable to lean against, he had Jim beside him and out of danger, and Blinky was a very good reader. Also, while he knew the basics of what happened at Killahead, he had never really learned the details.

"What is it Bagdwella? Is it the heartstone?" Blinky asked closing the book with a concerned expression.

"Stalkling?" Aaarrrgghh rose to all fours.

"Is Bular in Trollmarket?" Jim asked nervously.

Toby doubted _that_ was the case; there'd have been a lot more screaming.

"No. No. No!" Bagdwella yelled waving her arms around. "Rogue gnome!"

* * *

The glue traps were kind of creepy, Toby reflected with a shudder. He wasn't familiar with gnomes, but their skeletons looked eerily human. Not to mention he'd always been of the opinion if one was going to kill something they should do it quickly. He figured it fell into the whole "treat others how you wanted to be treated" thing. Slowly dying from starvation and dehydration was _not_ a nice way to go.

Bagdwella was explaining her problem to Jim who seemed to be just as baffled about why he was being called on to help with this as Toby was.

"See you need a gnome catcher," He said with an awkward smile when she had finished. "And I'm, well, the Trollhunter. So…"

"Oh no, Master Jim," Blinky interrupted. "The Trollhunter cannot refuse a call and what better a call for you to train with than a pint sized quarry."

Toby supposed he could see Blinky's reasoning there. Still…

If Toby had come to one of his superiors over something this trivial he would have gotten a harsh reprimand for wasting their time at a bare minimum. Did they really treat all the Trollhunters like this or was it because Jim was new and hadn't earned their respect yet? Or, more likely, because he was human?

A sound that was something like a guitar drew their attention to a rack of socks. The gnome emerged strumming a makeshift instrument made out of a small rake and singing incomprehensible words. It was actually a pretty good musician. Toby found himself warming up to the creature… at least until it stole his belt and nugget nummies.

What ensued after that was something like a cross between slapstick and the world's worst game of wack-a-mole. The gnome eluded them at every turn, slipping out of their hands and through crevices, stealing things all the while, until it ultimately got Jim's amulet and escaped into its hole.

"Oh come on," Jim muttered as he foolishly reached his arms into the hole.

"So what now?" He asked, finally giving up and turning to Blinky.

Blinky sighed.

"Well if you had lost or rejected the amulet would have returned to you, but unfortunately as it has been thieved it will not do so."

Toby choked on his saliva.

"That… seems like a really bad system," Jim said slowly echoing Toby's thoughts.

Blinky shrugged.

"It talks about it in _A Brief Recapitulation_. Not much is known as Merlin was notoriously close-lipped. Fortunately _that_ is not the problem at hand." He folded his upper arms behind his back and started tapping the lower ones together. "No, our current problem is how to retrieve the Amulet."

"Well what am I supposed to do?" Jim complained, "I can't fit in that hole."

A slight, but concerning, smile formed on Blinky's face as he tapped his chin.

"Currently."

Toby wasn't sure what he was talking about but Aaarrrgghh apparently knew.

"Bad idea," The Krubera rumbled shaking his head with an apprehensive look.

"No Trollhunter has ever lost his amulet," Blinky said irritably. "We'll need time to procure the Furgolator."

"Uh, the Furgolator?" Jim, understandably, sounded concerned.

"Don't you worry about anything, Master Jim! Tend to your studies. We'll watch over the hole." Blinky said resting a hand on his shoulder. "Tomorrow, you'll return refreshed to deal with this, um… little problem."

Toby, however, was not about to let it go that easily. Especially not when Aaarrrgghh seemed to dislike the idea.

"What, exactly, _is_ a Fergolator?" He asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"It's a machine we use to compress minerals," Blinky said. "If the gnome won't come out, the Trollhunter shall go in."

"You're going to shrink me?" Jim yelped.

"Precisely!"

Toby did not like the sound of that.

" _Have_ you tested it on humans before? Or at least animals?" He asked. "Because from what I know, humans do _not_ compress well."

"Well…" Blinky had the nerve to give them a guilty smile. "No… but I'm not concerned…"

Toby crossed his arms.

Blinky frowned.

"It's our best option," He said throwing up his arms. "Do _you_ have any other suggestions?"

Toby glared at him, something unpleasant simmering in his chest. His fingers twitched.

"Not yet, but anything's better that squashing Jim in a machine that's never been tested on humans."

This was his best friend they were talking about.

Jim glanced from Toby to Blinky then quickly stepped between them.

"Woah there!" He held out his hands placatingly. "How about instead of arguing we take a break and do some brainstorming."

"That sounds like a stellar idea," Blinky relented with a smile.

Toby huffed and stepped back. He needed to get Blinky some books on human anatomy before the troll went and did irreversible damage to one of them.

* * *

After quite a bit of discussion it was decided that Jim and Toby would acquire a high powered vacuum cleaner and see if they could suck the gnome and his stolen goods out of the hole. However, as it was going to be dark soon, they would be coming back to do it the next day.

"Well that was… something," Jim said pulling off his werewolf mask.

For some reason Toby had insisted on them wearing their disguises until they got into the bushes.

"Yeah…"

Jim glanced over to see Toby frowning. His eyes darted around their surroundings as if he was looking for something.

"Toby?"

Toby blinked and refocused on Jim.

"Yeah it was! I can't believe Blinky was just going try shrinking you like that!" He grinned. "Though if it worked I guess we could have had you go to school in my Sally-Go-Back clothes. You would have looked so cute."

Jim groaned but felt a smile creeping across his face anyway.

"Maybe we could have shrunk you instead. I could have gotten you a chocolate fondue fountain to swim around in."

"Tempting but no." Toby said with a shudder. "I'm already way too short."

"I like to think you're fun-sized."

He shot Jim a mock-glare.

"Hey! That's my line. Anyway, I'll hit my growth spurt soon."

"Uh-huh…"

Toby attempted to punch his shoulder and almost tipped his bike over when he dodged. Jim smirked at his friend and sped up.

"Hey! Get back here!"

The race home left them both winded but Jim didn't mind. It was nice to have a bit of normalcy for once. It was also nice messing around with Toby, he'd been a bit worried that…

"Oh look, Mom… I mean Dr. L's home!"

She was. Her blue car had just pulled into the driveway ahead of them. Jim couldn't help but to pedal a little faster.

"Hey Mom!"

She was just getting out of the car and turned at his call.

"Oh! Hi Jim!"

Jim coasted into the driveway and hopped off his bike to go give her a hug. With everything that had happened over the course of the week it felt like it had been forever since he'd last seen her.

"Good to see you kiddo," She said returning it.

"Hey Dr.L!"

"Hi Toby," She said with a smile as they pulled apart. "Are you boys going to be home for dinner tonight?"

"Oh course," Jim said.

"You sure have been out late," She continued, retrieving her bags from the car. "Do you have some big school project or something due?"

"Or something…" Toby muttered.

Jim winced, he felt a bit guilty about not telling his Mom about Trollhunting but she had enough on her plate right now. She'd be worried (Terrified if he was being honest with himself). It wasn't like she could do anything about it.

He frowned, feeling the happiness leak out of him as his hand drifted to his empty pocket.

Blinky had said that if he refused or lost the amulet it would come back to him (unfortunately that didn't work if he was trying to get it to come back on purpose. Seriously what was Merlin thinking?). It was… It was a little disconcerting to hear just how permanent the position he now held was. No take backs… and yet… he'd never had the chance to accept or refuse it in the first place.

"You okay, Jimbo?"

He glanced to his right to see Toby staring at him, eyes bright with concern. It looked like his Mom had already gone in the house.

"Yeah… I just… I guess I'm a little bothered by what Blinky said about the amulet returning if I reject it."

Something in Toby's expression shifted, his gaze becoming a little sharper.

"Do you _want_ to reject it?" He asked tone completely serious.

Jim blinked, a little taken aback.

"I… I don't know… I mean I don't really care for the fact that I have a killer troll out to… well… kill me, but Trollmarket's cool and I like Blinky and Aaarrrgghh… Draal not so much…"

Jim trailed off, frowning, then shrugged.

"Well it doesn't really matter since I can't get rid of it."

He turned back toward the house.

"Come on, I'm going to get started on dinner. With any luck I'll get it done before the hospital calls Mom again."

There was a pause and then he heard Toby make a noise of agreement and follow.

* * *

Toby was in good spirits when he retired to bed for the night.

Dinner had been delicious: salmon, wild rice and a nice side salad, curtesy of Chief Jim. They'd called Nana over and the four of them had eaten together for the first time in about a month. Afterward they played a round of Rummikub before Toby and Nana retired to their house for the night.

He'd gotten his homework done and even gotten a round of video games in before going to bed. Unfortunately he should have known his lucky streak would not last long.

It was about three in the morning when Toby's phone went off. He groaned and groped around in the dark until he found it. Toby hissed at the bright light before squinting at the screen. He groaned again. Maybe he could just pretend he'd slept through his phone going off…

He sighed and sat up dislodging Kracka from his chest. The goblin shot him an annoyed look.

"Sorry," He said in English before switching to Goblin. *Gather pack. Called for clean-up.*

Kracka immediately perked up and darted off, rousing Bob who was sleeping at the foot of the bed on the way by.

Toby snorted, padding over to the closet to grab his hoody. At least one of them was happy about this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit more of a relaxed chapter.
> 
> In other news I have a job interview today! Hopefully it goes well.


	7. Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toby has clean up again and Jim catches a gnome.

The bus pulled up in front of a vaguely familiar house. It took Toby a second to place where he’d seen it before. It was one of the houses he and Jim had passed when they were escaping Bular. He slowly stepped out of the bus into the chilly night air with the sinking feeling that he knew exactly why they’d been called here tonight.

He was right.

The inside of the house looked like something out of a slasher movie. There was blood on the floor, some of the furniture was overturned and the backdoor had been torn off its hinges. The goblins in his backpack sniffed the air and chattered in excitement.

Alfhild was already there of course. Her hands were casually shoved into the pockets of her leather jacket as she talked to a short cloaked figure. When the changelings that had been in the bus settled into a semicircle in front of them she trailed off and turned to look at them.

“Okay, Y’all!” She barked. “As you can see we’re getting this place cleaned and ready for a cover-up, but before I assign your jobs I will introduce our guest.”

The cloaked changeling she had been talking to moved forward and faced them. Their eyes glowed yellow behind their black mesh mask.

“This is Viper, she will be observing you tonight. Continue as normal but be sure to answer any questions she asks you.”

The gathered changelings shifted and Toby could practically feel the tension in the room ratchet up. Understandably too, it generally didn’t bode well when higher-ups from HQ started nosing around. Most changelings had _something_ they were hiding so it was hard to tell what or _who_ they were after. Toby, however, was hiding a whole powder-keg of secrets. He bit back the urge to swallow.

Kracka sniffed at his neck and Toby quickly shoved down his fear, imagining locking it in a box the back of his mind to deal with later. He had a role to play.

Alfhild was now assigning jobs. She moved to stand in front of him and he shifted to attention.

“1870, you’re in charge of getting the blood out of the upstairs bedroom- Just the one across from the stairs, the master bedroom is fine- and clearing up anything else suspicious,” She paused eyeing the goblins. “You can tell them to take care of any bone shards and any cloth or other materials that are deemed unsalvageable. Make sure they know not to mess with anything else.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Alfhild was watching as Toby switched to Goblin to relay her orders. Kracka and the others were a little disappointed that they would not be getting free reign to eat anything they wanted, but relented when Toby promised to find them a treat when they were done.

The goblins scampered off and Toby went to the supply corner to grab a carpet cleaner. After eyeing the stairs for a moment he shifted forms and then picked it up.

* * *

 

The room he had been assigned was decorated like a jungle. The walls were painted with trees and animals. Handcrafted cloth vines hung from the ceiling. The ones near the door had been ripped and dangled limply to the side as if something tall had snagged in them. The toucan patterned sheets had been pulled off the bed and ran parallel to a trail of blood leading out from under the bed. The smells of blood and fear and salt hung rank and yet strangely sweet in the air.

Toby swallowed, his stony hand clenching around the handle of the floor cleaner and making the plastic creak. He quickly shifted back to human form. He could still smell the blood, but at least it didn’t make him feel…

The changeling quickly shoved that thought down and took a deep breath through his mouth. He was fine. This wasn’t his fault. They’d taken a different route Bular would have gotten them. He was just being stupid. He had been on the surface too long. That was all.

He got to work. With each pass of the cleaner the blood stains became lighter. Maybe by the time he was done his hands would stop shaking.

* * *

 

The changeling carefully finished the floor and made sure the vines were back in place. He tucked the last one up and took a step back. The room was back to looking about as neat as a child’s room would look normally.

He should head downstairs to check on the goblin’s they were probably getting to the end of the more obvious stuff now. If he left them on their own too long there was no telling what they would get into.

He turned around and yelped.

Viper was standing in the door watching him.

How long had she been there?

“Hi…” He said awkwardly. “Do you need something Ma’am?”

Without acknowledging his question in any way, she turned around and left.

_Well that was creepy…_

Toby pressed a hand to his chest for a moment. His heart was racing. He took a few deep breaths to calm it down.

* * *

 

He spent the rest of the time directing the goblins and making sure they didn’t eat anything important. Once they were done, he hesitantly approached Alfhild, who was talking to Viper again.

“We’re done Ma’am. Do you have any other tasks for me or the goblins?”

Alfhild glanced at the kitchen where two changelings were working on installing a new door. She tilted her head and absently twirled one of her braids around her finger.

“I don’t believe so. You may leave if you’d like, or wait for the bus.”

Toby contemplated for a moment. He’d _really_ rather get out of here now, but it was a long walk home and a teenager out this late would draw suspicion.

“I’ll wait for the bus,” He decided reluctantly.

Alfhild nodded and turned back to Viper.

“So… Any news on the hunt?”

Viper glared at her, or at least Toby was pretty sure she did (it was hard to tell with the mask), and then pointedly tilted her head toward Toby.

Alfhild snorted.

“Oh, please. It’s clearly not him. As vague as our Dark Prince’s description was I doubt he’d confuse slender with stout.”

“Maybe,” Viper acquiesced. (Her voice had a rumbly quality to it that suggested she was using her shifter magic to make it unrecognizable.) “But the walls have ears. We don’t want our little wolf to catch wind and hide in his den.”

They stood in silence for a moment watching as the other changelings worked on finishing up their individual tasks. Toby shifted uncomfortably.

“Sooooo….” He said finally, unable to deal with the silence any longer. “Is it just me or was this messier than usual.”

Alfhild snorted.

“Oh it definitely was.” She shifted a little closer to Toby and lowered her voice slightly. “Apparently Stricklander told The Dark Underlord himself about last night’s spectacle. He actually told Lord Bular that _he’s_ supposed to differ to _Stricklander_ as punishment.”

Toby winced. “Yeah I could see why Lord Bular would be in a bad mood after that…”

 “Oh there’s more! Anyway he was _really_ touchy all day yesterday. Stalking around snarling at anyone who even looked at him…” She waved a hand vaguely. “The works.”

Her lips quirked up slightly in a smirk and then she leaned forward slightly.

“Now it just so happens some _fleshbag_ saw the whole debacle yesterday. He tried to call the police about it… Can you believe that!?” She gave a little incredulous laugh as if at the absurdity. “Naturally they didn’t believe him, but one of our agents heard the whole conversation.”

“So he’s reporting it, so we can decide whether to monitor it or… discretely remove the human. And then.” Alfhild gestures dramatically with both hands. “Lord Bular, who happens to be passing by just then, overhears it. He pins the informant to the wall and demands to address… So of course the frightened sod gives it to him.”

She leans back again.

“Anyway we just barely had time to announce a gas leak and clear the neighborhood before Lord Bular arrived… A good thing too. You should have heard the screaming!”

Toby was glad he had not.

“Yeah… Sounds crazy!” (Did he sound too cheerful or not cheerful enough? He wasn’t sure.)

“Tell me about it,” Alfhild groaned. “I miss the good old days when it was busting people’s skulls open with battle axes and doing raids. Heck even working a trade route was better than all this sneaking around.”

Viper let out an amused huff and tugged at her hood.

“When were you planted exactly?” Toby asked hesitantly; not really wanting to know but trying to keep himself present.

“Oh way back,” Alfhild said with a vague wave, before her lips drew back into a toothy grin. “I was a Viking.”

“Yeah?” Toby could definitely believe that.

* * *

 

Despite using the alley behind it as a shortcut for years, Jim had never actually been inside Stuart’s Electronics. His eyes widened a little as he tilted his head back to take in the floor to ceiling stock of various gizmos. Toby trailed silently at his side. Occasionally he would pull out his phone to cycle through the apps and then shove it back into his pocket. Jim glanced at him with a slight frown. He was about to ask him what was bothering him when a series of thumps drew his attention away.

“Customers! Welcome!”

A plump man with light skin and brown hair emerged from behind a stack of electronics at the top of the stairs. He was wearing a pink bathrobe, slippers, and a large cheerful smile.

He seemed vaguely familiar. Before Jim could place where he knew him from, Toby perked up and let out a squeak of excitement.

“Hey!” Toby said pointing a finger at the man. “You’re the taco guy.”

“I am,” He said cheerfully as he worked his way down the stairs. “I wear many hats… Though to be fair, I do have a lot more success selling tacos than radios.”

He settled behind the counter and shoved a tangle of wires that were attached to a small glowing blue rectangle to the side.

“Stuart of Stuart’s electronics, at your service,” He said offering his hand. “What can I do for you?”

Jim stepped forward and shook it.

“We’ve looking for a vacuum.” Normally he would look for it himself but they would need all the help they could get to find anything in this store… or at least to get it out without toppling something.

“A really really reaaaaalllly strong vacuum,” Toby cut in. “One so powerful that it could suck up like… a mouse.”

“You do know they have mouse traps for that, right kid?”

“It’s a very smart mouse,” Jim interjected.

Toby nodded vigorously.

“A very very smart mouse. Like Jerry from Tom and Jerry levels smart. We can’t use poison either since my Nana’s cats might into it.”

“I see,” Stuart said tapping his chin. “If you don’t mind waiting a moment, I’ll head into the back and see what I have.”

Stuart retreated behind a pile of electronics and Jim and Toby listened as a series of thuds sounded out. There was a loud clatter and then a moment of silence.

“I’m fine!” Stuart called out.

“Do you think he’s really okay?”

Toby shrugged in response.

* * *

 

Blinky and Aaarrrgghh were quite relieved to see them when they arrived at Bagdwella’s store.

“Ah there you are Master Jim!” The four-armed troll said with a smile. “As far as we can tell the little varmint remains in his hole.”

“That’s good,” Jim said navigating the vacuum over the last bump.

He straightened up and grimaced as his back let out a series of pops. They really should have called Aaarrrgghh to help them bring the vacuum down the stairs. The thing was heavy.

“What’s that?” Aaarrrgghh rumbled with interest as Toby set down his bag.

“It’s a battery pack to run the vacuum off.”

The large troll leaned forward to sniff it.

“Tasty,” He said licking his lips.

“Don’t eat that,” Jim said quickly. “We need it.”

“After we catch gnome?” Aaarrrgghh asked hopefully.

“Sorry,” Jim said. “It’s my Mom’s. She might miss it.”

Aaarrrgghh sighed and gave him a sad look. Such a big troll had no right to have such big woe-be-gone puppy dog eyes.

 “Well… Here goes nothing,” Jim muttered as he stuck the hose into the gnome’s hole.

The machine roared to life and immediately angry chattering began sounding from inside the wall. Things began thudding into the hose.

“What is it doing?” Blinky inquired.

“It’s working,” Jim said with a giddy smile. “I can’t believe it’s actually working.”

He’d have to drop back by the shop and thank Stuart later. The man had apparently made his own modifications to it. He held up a hand for Toby hi-five and then quickly returned to bracing the tube. The gnome’s chattering became more rapid and then it let out a loud shriek.

_Thunk._

Jim pulled the tube back revealing a pair of feet sticking out of it. It shook and Jim was barely able to maintain his hold as the gnome’s feet kicked aggressively.

“Quick, get something to trap it!”

Blinky began to scramble around for some form of containment. Fortunately it seemed that Aaarrrgghh was already prepared. Blinky smiled at the green giant when he handed him a sturdy bag, which he then handed to Jim, who wrapped it around the hose.

“Okay… turn it off, Tobes.”

Toby pushed the off switch and the roar of the machine died down. Jim pulled the bag back and it immediately began thrashing. He closed his other hand around the bag’s opening to prevent gnome from escaping.

“We got him!” Jim glanced over at the vacuum. “Did we get the amulet?”

“I’ll check,” Toby volunteered. “You get something to tie that closed.”

That was a good plan. Jim wasn’t sure how long he would be able to hold the bag closed. Bagdwella found them a rope while Toby removed the top of the vacuum and rooted around inside.

“So any luck?” Jim asked coming up behind him.

His friend yelped, clearly having not heard him coming.

“Nope. We probably should keep trying.”

Jim winced. This wasn’t good. He was fairly certain losing an ancient magical artifact was a big no-no.

He turned on the vacuum and tried again, this time going until it was sucking up nothing else, and then they emptied out the bag. Bagdwella sorted her things out of the dust and announced that all was accounted for. Unfortunately the amulet didn’t turn up.

“Maybe it’s too heavy?” Toby suggested.

“I don’t think so,” Jim said with a frown. “The vacuum got the gnome and it was much heavier than the amulet.”

He turned to Blinky and Aaarrrgghh.

“Did you guys watch the hole all night?”

Blinky nodded.

“Aaarrrgghh and I took shifts and made sure it was never unsupervised.” He paused fidgeting a little as his eyes darted around. “Perhaps there is another opening to the tunnel.”

Jim grimaced. He rubbed at his arms. This just kept getting better. What now? He glanced at the wiggling bag.

“Does anyone here speak gnome? Is there any way to interrogate one?”

“I’m afraid not, Master Jim,” Blinky said with deep regret. “I know some have studied gnomes and their language. Unfortunately none of them live in Trollmarket.” He shot a glare at the bag as the gnome let loose a string of angry sounds. “That and most attempts to understand the vermin resulted in insults.”

Well that was just great. Jim sighed.

“So what should we do?”

Blinky rubbed the back of his hand and shrugged.

“I am afraid I am at a loss… I suggest you retire for the night and we reconvene tomorrow with fresh ideas.”

 “What about the gnome?”

Blinky picked it up and handed the bag to him.

“Keep him on hand for the moment… as a precaution… but once we find the amulet you must finish the job.”

“Finish… Wait you mean kill it?!”

“Of course. That is one of the Rules.”

Jim’s stomach clenched as he accepted the bag from Blinky. He could understand seeing the gnome as annoying… but to kill it?

“Come on Toby,” He said as he turned to leave Bagdwella’s shop.

The shorter boy followed him slowly, brows furrowed.

* * *

 

Toby and Jim pulled into their cul-de-sac just as the sun slipped behind the trees.

“Hey…”

Toby turned and blinked at him. Jim noticed there were dark bags under Toby’s eyes. He had been distant all day. When had he last had a full night’s sleep? Something twisted in Jim’s gut.

“Do you want to stay over tonight?” His voice came out so much more hesitant than he wanted. “We can watch a movie and I’ll even make my Ultimate Party Popcorn.”

Toby’s brows drew together and his gaze flicked away for a moment. The twisting in Jim’s gut grew more pronounced. Then Toby’s expression relaxed into a smile.

“Yeah… that would be nice,” He nudged Jim’s shoulder with his own. “Besides how can I pass up on your Ultimate Party Popcorn?”

Jim bumped him back with a smile. He let out a quiet breath of relief. They were still okay.

* * *

 

Toby listened as Jim’s breathing slowly leveled out.

He stared at the dark ceiling, eyes carefully kept open. The images of last night were still too fresh in his mind. A reminder of what would happen if they messed up. If they were caught.

Of the consequences of their actions.

The changeling quietly rose to his feet. His hand slipped into his pocket closing around the cold metal circle. Its tingling energy pulsed against his fingers like a heartbeat (He wondered if it matched Jim’s). His gaze flickered to his friend’s sleeping form.

It would be so easy to get rid of it. Jim had no obligation to the trolls. Toby certainly didn’t. He could slip away and hide it somewhere no one would ever find it. Maybe he could even destroy it. There would be no way to release Gunmar if the amulet was gone, right?

His fingers clenched tightly and he thrust it deeper into his pocket. He glanced at Jim. The room seemed to brighten slightly as his eyes glowed.  He wondered what the human would see right now if he woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well time to go edit my outline. Toby was originally not supposed to steal the amulet at this point... But well... things happen.
> 
> Stuart gets an appearance!
> 
> Be sure to leave a comment they always cheer me up and keep me motivated!
> 
> **Edit: 10/5/2019**
> 
> **I've currently got a lot on my plate. So I'm going to be taking a short break while I get things in order.**
> 
> **I will be back with the next chapter of this before the end of the year. ******


	8. Goblins and Conspiracies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fruitless search for the amulet continues.

The search for the missing amulet was proving to be incredibly frustrating. Blinky kept suggesting that they should try shrinking Jim down to have him search for it. Toby was very staunchly against it and, as Aaarrrgghh was also siding with him and against Blinky on that particular issue, Jim had decided to save that for a last resort.

“I’m just saying we should try lighting a fire in the entrance to see if the smoke comes out somewhere else,” Toby said.

“And if it does? What’s to say that the amulet is not lodged in some crevice somewhere? Just waiting for discovery?” Blinky returned.

“Oh! Maybe we could use a spycam!” Toby held his hands out parallel. “We could like strap it to a remote controlled car and send it in. It would be totally secret agent cool!”

“Preposterous, your human vehicles are far too large to fit into such a small hole. Why, even the smallest of them would not even fit into the fergalator.”

Toby patted Blinky’s arm and shook his head.

“No. No. We have small toy cars that drive around just like the regular ones.”

“Really?” Blinky blinked and cocked his head. “How fascinating! Can you acquire one of these tiny cars for our use?”

Jim glanced at Aaarrrgghh who let out a chuckle and leaned over to him.

“Blinky like learning human things,” He whispered very loudly. “Want car to play with.”

Jim grinned at that. Blinky shot the large troll an affronted look.

“I’m not planning to _play_ with the car I merely wish to document how it works so that I might better understand human culture. That is all,” Blinky said crossing his arms with a huff.

Toby snickered.

“That’s okay, you can play with it too…”

“What is going on here?” Everyone jumped at Vendal’s gruff voice.

Jim turned to see the elderly troll bend slightly as he entered the shop. He used his staff to brush aside a hanging sock before moving to stand pointedly in front of Blinky.

“Why is the Trollhunter not in the Forge training? I believe I heard you talking about cars. What sort of foolishness are you up to now?”

Blinky winced lowering his head slightly as he tapped his fingertips together.

“Well… You see…”

“I lost the amulet,” Jim said coming to stand beside him.

“Master Jim…”

He couldn’t let Blinky take the blame for something that was his fault.

“A gnome stole it from me. We caught the gnome, but we haven’t managed to get the amulet back yet. We’re working on it.”

Vendal stared at him for a moment. Jim straightened up, feeling rather like he was in the principal’s office waiting to find out if he was going to have detention. The elderly troll let out a huff and turned back toward Blinky.

 “You have all of today and tomorrow to find the amulet. After that the Trollhunter must return to his training.”

“But without the amulet…!” Blinky started.

Vendal pinned him with a stare.

“ _You_ will continue looking for it. I will make arrangements for a substitute trainer in the meantime.”

Vendal turned away from them to walk out of the shop.

“Find the Amulet soon. The longer it remains lost the more unrest will grow in TrollMarket.”

* * *

 

“Well, hey! Maybe it will turn up tomorrow.” Toby said in a tone of deliberate cheerfulness as he and Jim made their way home.

“I doubt it,” Jim said with a sigh. “I can’t believe it, I find an important magic artifact and then I lose it… Ugh! Stupid!”

“It’s not your fault…”

“How?!” Jim snapped, turning toward him. “I was the one who couldn’t hold onto it against a gnome. A _gnome_! How am I supposed to protect people from Bular if I can’t protect an amulet from one lousy gnome?” His shoulders slumped and he gripped the straps of his pack. “Maybe I’m just not cut out for this.”

Toby opened his mouth and then closed it, unsure of what to say. He didn’t want Jim to be Trollhunter, and he was fairly certain Jim didn’t want to be either, but he hadn’t anticipated Jim taking the loss of the amulet this way. He knew about his friend’s anxiety, he had even learned some strategies to help him with it over the years, but…

But he hadn’t been prepared for Jim to blame himself this hard for it, for it to affect his sense of confidence this way.

Toby frowned.

Would it go away? Could he expect Jim to move past losing the amulet or would he just keep blaming himself for it? He just wanted his friend safe, was that too much to ask?

Why did things have to be complicated?

* * *

 

For history class Mr. Strickler was taking them to the museum for a more hands on lesson and some general all around fun. Honestly, long-term goal to destroy humanity aside, he really was a good teacher.

“Excuse me.”

Toby turned around from the rock exhibit he had been looking at to find Claire approaching them. He hazarded a glance to the side toward Jim. Yep, he was turning bright red. Toby snorted and rolled his eyes.

“What’s up?” Toby asked, because _someone_ had to respond to her.

Claire blinked at him.

“Oh sorry! I was talking to Jim,” She said with an apologetic smile. “But I didn’t mean to…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Toby waved her off. He grabbed Jim and shifted him forward. “I’ll leave you two alone.”

He shot a wink and a thumbs-up to Jim who had recovered and was now sputtering. Hopefully he would not fall into trying to impress her with mediocre Spanish like he had the past few times he had attempted to talk to her. Toby shook his head. There were a certain things about humans that were still super weird to him. Dating practices were definitely at the top of the list. Trolls just went for the throat… both figuratively and literally. He paused with a frown. Or was that just Gum-Gums?

He was drifting along searching for something else to occupy him when Eli’s high pitched voice drew his attention.

“At first, I thought it was an alien,” He was saying. “Definitely not human. It’s some sort of monster.”

The girl he was talking to leaned away and rolled her eyes.

“Come on. Give it up, Eli.”

Toby inched closer.

“No, no! This time I have photographic evidence,” He insisted waving his phone.

_Uh oh, that doesn’t sound good._

Toby quickly nudged his way in between Eli and the two other teens.

“Hey, Eli, can I see your phone real quick?” He said swiping it from his hands. He looked at the screen and then did a double take. “Oh my gosh.”

A chill ran through his veins. That was definitely a goblin. A _squashed_ goblin. They would be out for revenge. He needed to do damage control fast.

He twisted as if he was going to turn to show the picture to one of the other kids. He let his feet cross and went down with a yelp the phone clattering out of his hands.

“Are you all right?” Eli squeaked.

“Yeah,” Toby let out a self-depreciating chuckle as the other kids around him laughed. “Just clumsy I guess… oh here let me get that for you!”

Toby grabbed Eli’s phone off the ground, hitting the delete button as he did so. A picture of Eli posing with ninja stars replaced the goblin.

“Oh no, I deleted it!” Toby did his best to sound truly sorry as he pressed the phone back into Eli’s hands. “I’m so so sorry.”

“That’s okay… I guess,” Eli sounded really put out. Toby would have felt bad but he had probably just saved his life.

“Look,” He said thinking quickly. “If there’s _any_ way I could make it up to you…”

“Not really,” Eli sighed.

“Hey… I know it’s a little late, but I really did want to hear about what you found.”

The skinny human immediately perked up.

In just a few minutes Toby had all the information on the goblin he needed, way too much personal information, and a few weird conspiracies.

“Well it’s been nice talking to you, but I need to go check on Jimbo,” Toby said, peeling himself away from the conversation. “Bye!”

“Bye,” Eli waved. “Let’s talk again?”

Toby wove through the other students, twisting his head this way and that, until he spotted Jim. He broke free of a small cluster that were ogling a mummy and jogged over to his friend.

“Jimbo! How did it go?”

Jim glanced at him and sighed.

“Okay…. But I think…” He sighed again, shoulders slumping. “I think she might actually have a crush on _you_.”

Toby choked on his spit and went into a coughing fit.

“Me?! Why would she have a crush on _me_?”

He had interacted with Claire only a handful of times and she had literally never shown any interest outside of getting whatever project they were working on and basic social niceties. She’d even gotten his name wrong a few times.

“Well she approached me to talk about you. She had a whole bunch of questions.”

Toby stilled. Questions weren’t good.

“What sort of questions?”

“Like what sort of stuff you do in your free time, what kind of things you like, and if you had any pets… what was the other one?” Jim broke off tapping the back of his hand. “Oh yeah… She wanted to know if you had a part time job or something?”

Toby frowned. This was weird…

“Look Jim. I don’t know why she’s asking those things, but I _highly_ doubt she has a crush on me and _if_ she does I have no interest of returning it,” He said firmly, making careful eye contact with Jim.

“You don’t have to…”

“Seriously. I’m not interested in her,” Toby repeated firmly.  

Well aside from why she was asking questions about him…

“I believe you,” Jim said. “I guess I’m just disappointed…”

Toby held back a groan. Why him? He grabbed Jim’s arm.

“Come on let’s go look at the Viking exhibit.”

Who knows, maybe there’d be a picture of Alfhild or something.

* * *

 

Toby wasn’t terribly excited to spend a night off hiding in the bushes across from Eli’s house, but life was like that sometimes. Unfortunately Kracka hadn’t dropped by so he was on his own. From what he could figure out it sounded like it was a delivery driver who had squashed the goblin: one who had just happened to leave a note about where and when he would return.

He checked his watch and yawned, another ten minutes. It was about time to start scouting to see if he could find the goblin swarm.

There was a loud whine from an approaching engine and Toby ducked back down behind his bush waiting for it to pass. It didn’t. Was the delivery driver early? Toby peered over the bushes.

It was Steve.

Toby watched in puzzlement as the blond teen parked his Vespa in the driveway and approached the front door. He knocked and stood there, shifting and glancing around every few seconds. After about a minute a woman, who Toby assumed must be Eli’s mother, opened the door and let him in.

That was… strange… Was there a group project Toby had forgotten about?

Before he could think about it much more there was the rumble of another vehicle approaching. He ducked down just as the delivery truck pulled to a halt before the house. The driver hopped out, singing tonelessly to whatever music was playing on his headphones, and retrieved a package from the back. Toby winced as he dropped it a few times before making it to the front door. How did that guy still have a job?

Movement from the corner of his eye brought his attention back to the issue at hands.

The goblins were emerging from the bushes. Several of them climbed up the light poles. It was hard to tell at this distance, but he thought that he saw Bob on one of the far poles. Other goblins were beginning to emerge from the bushes; it seemed that Toby’s guess was correct. The swarm flowed down the street toward their hapless victim.

The delivery driver handed off the package to Eli, who had answered the door, and then pushed past him into the house. Toby tensed. The driver was already a dead man, but if he stayed in Eli’s house too long the goblins might go after him as well.

Toby debated whether he should do something. Goblins were near impossible to reason with in this state, but if he got ahold of Kracka he might be able to get him to convince Fragwa to wait to go after the driver until…

The goblin swarm descended on the delivery truck. It shook back and forth violently as they began to devour it.

Right… He’d forgotten that goblins often didn’t differentiate between objects and people when they were going for revenge. Toby felt his muscles relax; it seemed there would be no need for death tonight. In a matter of seconds the truck was gone. He glanced up and down the street to make sure there were no onlookers.

The doorknob started to turn. Thinking quickly Toby raised his hands to his mouth and let out a “watch out” call. The goblins’ heads shot up at the sound and they scattered into the bushes only a moment before the door opened and the delivery driver came out.

Toby glanced around for an escape route. It was best that he got out of here before the delivery man called the police to look for his “stolen” truck. They would wonder what he was doing here so late at night. He should probably note down the event to give to Alfhild or Stricklander; the Janus Order liked to keep track of these sorts of things.

There was a crackle from a bush near him and he spotted a goblin he didn’t recognize emerging. It eyed him speculatively. Not wanting to become dinner, he quickly flashed his eyes at it. It tilted its head.

He heard a surprised chatter from his right and then another goblin moved in front of him. It snarled at the first goblin which laid its ears back and skittered away.

“Oh! Hi Foon,” He said, relieved.

“moi hara whm?” Foon asked.

“I was just making sure no one saw.”

Foon cocked its head.  “Moi sell wewsh’oiw?” It wanted to confirm that him who did the watch out call.

Toby nodded.

Foon grinned and Toby relaxed. It looked like it was off of the frenzy of the revenge hunt now.

“Wa rayacga salalrewa. moi wouc?” Foon asked, bouncing on its toes.

Right. They usually celebrated if they managed a successful revenge hunt. Toby wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to join though. Goblin revelries got pretty wild and he was tired.

Foon tugged Toby’s pant leg before climbing up on his head. “Moi lism. Moi wa goc’w saa mish.”

It was right, Toby thought guiltily, with all the stuff going on with Jim and cleanup he hadn’t had much time to just hang out with the goblins.

“wac'toir,” Toby decided: he would go along with them. It would be nice to relax and let loose just a little. Anyway tomorrow was Saturday, so he could sleep in before he and Jim went to Trollmarket.

He took one last glance at Eli’s house where Eli and Steve where talking to the delivery man, before slipping away through the bushes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!
> 
> In case anyone is wondering the goblins are speaking a cipher (well starting this chapter anyway). Any real words in another language that appear are purely coincidental.
> 
> Nice to get those background story lines progressing.
> 
> There will be no Jlaire (Jim x Claire) in this story. Just figured I'd clear that up.
> 
> Anyway as always let me know what you think! Never be afraid to leave a rambley comment I absolutely adore them.
> 
> See y'all next time!


	9. Substitute Teacher

Toby awoke to something poking him.

“Goc'w lowhar,” He grumbled. “Raswucg.”

“Come on Tobes! It’s nearly noon.”

_Noon, huh?_ Despite not getting home until early morning, he technically _might_ have had enough sleep… He should probably get up. Toby opened his eyes and squinted at the outline of his friend standing over him. Nope. Too bright. Too early. He rolled over and buried his head under his pillow.

“Seriously?” He heard Jim grumble.

There was a long pause and for one blessed moment he thought that he might be allowed to continue sleeping.

Something very cold and wet slid down his shirt.

Toby shrieked and launched himself out of bed. He batted wildly at his back as the cold thing dropped farther down his shirt. Finally it fell out. An ice cube! Of all the dirty tricks…

Now fully awake he shot Jim a death glare. The annoying human had the _nerve_ to laugh at him. This called for revenge.

He swooped down and grabbed the cube and then lunged for Jim who dodged out of the way still snickering. Unfortunately for Toby, Jim’s training was paying off and he managed to evade him until the ice cube melted. Toby settled for trapping him with the blanket instead.

 “By the way, where did you put the gnome?” Jim asked once they’d calmed down. “I was thinking we could try to convince him to show us where he put the amulet.”

Toby stilled. He knew he had forgotten something.

He quickly scrambled toward the closet and yanked open the door. The cage was gone. He cursed quietly under his breath.

“Toby?”

“I need to check something. Be right back!”

Toby quickly scrambled down the stairs and into the kitchen.

“Hey Nana? Nana?”

The portly woman glanced up from where she was just setting out a set of solitaire cards on the table.

“Yes Toby-pie?”

“Did you move a cage out of my closet?”

“Why yes!” She flipped over the final row of cards before giving him a sad look. “I know Mr. Meow-Meow P.I. gets into your stuff sometimes but you really shouldn’t lock him in a cage like that.”

Did she seriously mistake a gnome for a cat? As convenient as this was, they _really_ needed to get her a new set of glasses… or cataract surgery.

“Sorry Nana, I won’t do it again.”

He ran back up the stairs.

“Jim we might have one teeny tiny problem…”

* * *

Finding the gnome proved to be impossible. There was definite evidence of its presence: chewed books, missing nugget nummies, a few pieces of concerning graffiti that were definitely not of goblin origin, but the gnome itself they couldn’t find.

“We could try the raccoon trap?” Jim finally suggested with a shrug.

“Sure, why not,” Toby sighed.

With any luck it would either leave or get trapped. Toby had no idea how goblins and gnomes did with each other. He _really_ hoped they couldn’t communicate. He did _not_ want to explain to Kracka and the others why he had been in Trollmarket… Actually he should start thinking up a lie to explain why the gnome was here in the first place. They probably wouldn’t ask him, but better safe than sorry.

* * *

They arrived at Trollmarket at about two in the afternoon and, after a quick stop at the library to pick up Blinky and Aaarrrgghh, they made their way through the busy crowd to Hero’s Forge.

“So who do you think our new trainer will be?” Jim asked as they passed under the neon sign depicting Daylight.

Toby shrugged, he didn’t really know enough about the Trollmarket trolls to say.

They walked into the arena and came to a stop fast enough that Aaarrrgghh bumped into them. Toby didn’t particularly care. His stomach seemed to have turned to lead. Draal was standing beside Vendal in the center of the forge.

“Why are you…” Blinky started to ask. “Oh.”

“He can’t be serious!” Toby turned around and hissed urgently to Blinky. “Draal tried to kill us last time we fought!”

Jim nodded faintly in agreement, not taking his eyes off Draal. He looked rather pale.

“He wasn’t trying to _kill_ you,” Blinky protested weakly.

“Horrifically maim, grind to dust, shatter… I don’t care what you want to call it,” Toby said impatiently. “The point is he has it out for us.”

Aaarrrgghh cocked his head, watching Toby, as Blinky started wringing his hands.

“I’m sure Vendal…”

“Ah-Hem!” They were brought back from their discussion by the sound of Vendel pointedly clearing his throat.

Beside him, Toby heard Jim swallow loudly.

The four of them moved to stand before Vendal and Draal. The blue troll was staring down at Jim with a barely concealed sneer but made no move forward.  Toby subtly shifted his weight to the balls of his feet, just in case.

“As Blinky will be occupied with attempting to retrieve the amulet, Draal will be taking over your training for the time being,” The Elder informed Jim.

Draal smirked and gave a mocking bow.

“I look forward to teaching you how a _real_ troll fights _fleshbag_.”

Toby stilled, muscles suddenly going tense. He bit down a sense of nausea as his breathing picked up.

“Draal, please keep in mind what we discussed,” Vendal said pointedly.

Draal gave a grudging nod and then the Elder turned and moved toward the side of the arena, close enough to the exit that he wouldn’t be caught in its mechanisms should it activate. Blinky glanced back and forth between Jim and Vendal before he quickly scurried after him.

Aaarrrgghh watched him go and then settled down where he was; ears forward and alert.

* * *

“Vendal! Vendal!”

“Yes, Blinkeous?” He sighed.

“You can’t possibly be planning to leave Master Jim’s training to… to…” Blinky paused wringing two of his hands while gesturing back at Draal with the others. “That brute!”

He had respected Draal. The young troll was a capable warrior, but his arrogance strong and Blinky couldn’t abide the way he was treating the humans.

“It’s already decided,” Vendal said firmly. “If you wish to change things I suggest you work hard on finding the amulet…” He paused and then muttered: “Deya knows the boy will need it.”

“But Draal loathes him! We both observed how he conducted himself in that sparring match!”

“I’m well aware, but if the human is to survive as Trollhunter, he must learn to handle himself and fast. Your soft handed training could get him killed.”

“And so could Draal’s…”

“Enough,” Vendal barked. “I have had enough of your impertinence Blinkeous. I believe you have a task to see to.”

* * *

Jim stared blankly at the weapons rack. He had no idea what he was looking for and also was fairly certain he was on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Most of the swords were as big as him and looked to be about as heavy. Jim grabbed one of them with shaking hands.

A hand came to rest on his stopping him from taking it down.

“Here, try this one,” Toby said.

The sword was actually a reasonable size for a human to wield. Now that Jim thought about it, he had seen a few human-sized trolls. He hefted it experimentally and grimaced. It felt unwieldy compared to Daylight and the grip was a little thicker than was comfortable. He glanced back at the weapons rack… The sword he had been trying to take down fell of its hook with a loud clang… He flushed and quickly turned away from the weapons rack.

Yep the one Toby gave him would have to do.

“Okay, let’s do this.” Preferably before he came to his senses…

Toby nodded and hefted his axe up to rest on his shoulder.

Draal was waiting for them in the center of the forge with his arms crossed. He blew out an exasperated sounding snort through his nose when they finally came to stand in front of him.

“Vendal has tasked me with teaching the _Trollhunter,_ to properly fight,” He said giving, Toby a pointed look. “I am _not_ responsible for what happens to you.”

Toby didn’t budge.

“Very well then,” The troll clapped his hands together and the smirk was back. “We are going start with a light spar to see what Blinky has taught you.”

He regarded them for a moment.

“Move to the side, short one. You are not the one I am testing.”

Toby let out a little huff and narrowed his eyes. The image of Toby pinned down in Draal’s stone grip passed through his mind and Jim quickly turned toward him.

“It’s okay. I’ll be fine for just one spar.” Maybe. He hoped.

Toby didn’t look convinced. His hands tightened on the handle of his axe.

“No dice, Jimbo,” He said, eyes not leaving Draal. “Remember last time. He was totally trying to…”

“ _Last time,_ I had no training. I actually know how to wield a sword now.”

Barely, but that wasn’t the point. The giant troll would probably get more aggravated if Toby didn’t do what he wanted and Jim didn’t want to see his friend get hurt again. Anyway this time he had actually been assigned to train him… So maybe it wouldn’t be as bad?

“But…”

“Please, Tobes?”

“…Fine.”

 Toby stalked back to the side of the arena and settled down a few yards away from Aaarrrgghh, shoulders tense and jaw clenched. He didn’t set his ax down.

Jim swallowed and turned back toward Draal.

“So…” He started to ask.

Draal charged him. Jim let out a yelp and rolled out of the way.

“Excellent,” Draal laughed. “You at least have learned how to dodge, now let’s see your blade work!”

Draal slid to a stop by the weapons rack, pausing for a moment to snatch up a long pole. He came back at Jim and brought the weapon down in a sweeping arch. Jim barely managed to bring up his sword in time to block it. The force of the blow pushed him down; he stumbled out from under it. His arms were now screaming with pain but he had no time to worry about them as Draal came back around to attack again.

This fight was almost as one-sided as the first; at least this time Jim had _some_ idea of what he was doing. He really missed Daylight; it fit him so much better. He was also realizing now that the amulet enhanced his blows. Without its power it felt like he was trying to chop wood with a hammer.

At least Draal didn’t seem to be trying as hard to kill him this time.

Jim tried to roll out of the way of the pole again but wasn’t quick enough. The edge of it caught his shin and he went down hard, his sword hit the ground about an inch away from his face with a sharp clang. He started to try to give up but immediately curled in on himself, grabbing his leg with a hiss. _That_ was definitely going to bruise… Actually forget bruising, he needed a bandage; a dark patch was appearing on his jean around a small tear in the fabric.

“Disappointing,” Jim flinched and looked up to see Draal leaning over him. “I still cannot believe the amulet chose such a weak whelp.”

He paused and glanced behind him. At Vendal, Jim realized. He snorted and turned away. “Your leg is injured. I shall give you tomorrow to recover and then we shall start training the weakness out of your body.”

He leaned forward and grabbed Jim by the arm. Jim felt himself freeze up as the troll’s rancid breath hit him. Those teeth were the size of his fingers.

“Or perhaps you can do us all a favor and go face Bular now. It will save us the trouble of finding the amulet you lost,” He sneered quietly before adding in a louder voice. “Take your new weapon home an familiarize yourself with it.”

He drew away and set Jim on his feet. Jim barely managed to stay upright. At least he hadn’t broken anything; it just really really hurt.

“Jim! Jim!”

Toby skidded to a halt next to him, Aaarrrgghh close behind.

“Are you okay?”

His friend hovered uncertainly. Jim gave him a weak smile.

“I’m fine Tobes, just a little beat up.” He doubted he sounded very convincing with how shaky his voice was. “Let’s get home.”

“I can’t believe these….” Toby snarled, his eyes darting first to where Draal had just been and then over Jim’s shoulder. Jim glanced back and saw Vendal leaving the arena through the other exit. “Training… oh please! They just want to beat on you to make themselves feel better.”

“Toby,” Jim cut him off. He appreciated his friend’s concern, but right now… “Let’s just go home.”

* * *

Barbara was actually home on time. She changed out of her scrubs with a great sense of relief. With any luck she would actually be able to have a nice dinner and sleep a full night for once. Jim wasn’t home yet so she poured a glass of wine and settled down into her favorite chair. She tugged the novel she had been trying to read for the past three months out of the bookshelf and noted that the bookmark had left an indent in the page.

She shrugged and took a sip of her wine. Now where had she left off? Oh yes the protagonist… was it Simon? Yes it was Simon... had just found a note the victim had left behind which had lead him to the mansion at the edge of the forest…

Barbara nearly spilled her wine as the back door abruptly slammed open.

That would be the boys. Their voices carried over from the next room but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. After debating with herself for a moment, she set down her wine and replaced her book mark.

“So how did school go…”

She trailed off as she rounded the corner into the kitchen and caught sight of Jim perched on one of the chairs with his pant leg rolled up. There was a large bruise forming across his shin. The skin in the center was torn.

“What happened?!” She exclaimed.

Jim and Toby, who had been fishing the medical kit out from under the sink, stared at her wide eyed.

“I crashed my bike,” Jim blurted out at the exact same time Toby said. “He fell in the ditch.”

There was a moment of awkward silence as they stared at each other.

“I crashed my bike into the ditch,” Jim said finally. “I’m mostly okay. I just skinned my knee and have a couple bruises.”

Barbara frowned. He was definitely lying but why?

“Well let me take a look at that. It looks pretty nasty.” Toby moved out of the way and handed her the medical kit. “It doesn’t look like you will need stitches,” She said, gently examining it. “Hold still; this will sting.”

Jim inhaled sharply and flinched when she started cleaning the wound but otherwise stayed still. As she finished that and began bandaging the injury, she tried to subtlely look him over. He did look pretty bumped up, but not dirty like he would if had actually fallen into the ditch. In fact, aside from a few tears and the blood from his knee, his clothing was completely clean.

Her frown deepened was he being bullied? It had happened a few times back in middle and elementary school.

“You know that you can tell me anything right?” She said as she finished securing the bandage.

She rested her hand on his knee and tried to catch his eyes. They remained downcast and shifted to the side. His shoulders hunched.

“…Yeah.”

Barbara sighed, holding back her frustration. It was okay, she could wait. Hopefully he would tell her on his own. But if he didn’t, and something like this happened again, then she would try to force the issue.

She shifted her gaze to Toby, making sure that he wasn’t injured as well. Her eyebrows went up.

“Is that a sword?”

It was indeed a sword and, now that she was looking, Barbara noticed there was an ax behind Toby too.

“Why do you have those?” She asked with a frown.

Toby briefly glanced over at Jim and then met Barbara’s eyes and smiled sheepishly.

“Well…” He said drawing out the word. “It was supposed to be a surprise, but me and Jim were…”

“Helping out with Romeo and Juliet!” Jim interrupted.

Toby shot him an annoyed look.

“Yeah we’re helping out with the props. We got these swords at this cool second hand store and need to do some maintenance before they can use them.”

Barbara tilted her head. She wasn’t entirely surprised that Toby was helping out with the theater, he had always had an interest in magic shows and the like, but she _was_ surprised Jim was.

Wait…

Hadn’t he mentioned that _Claire_ was in the drama club at some point? She feigned adjusting her glasses to cover the little smirk that had formed on her lips. She would bet her best stethoscope that was what this was about. It was good to see him taking some initiative.

“Well I hope it goes well,” She said once she’d gotten her poker face back on. She patted her son’s shoulder. “As the saying goes: Break a leg!”

Jim grimaced. “Hopefully I won’t.”

Barbara glanced at Toby in puzzlement as he made a choking noise and started coughing.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter did not want to be written, but hopefully things will flow better now that it's out of the way.
> 
> I was rewatching the first few episodes of Trollhunters and Jim and Toby actually horse around a bit with each other. 
> 
> The training felt a little bit repetitive, but I'm still working on trying to get a good grasp upon how Draal would act if he had been ordered to train someone he neither liked nor respected. Based on what I can surmise from cannon I'm going to say that he would probably actually give good training but it would be really harsh, because his sense of pride at wanting his student to succeed because it reflects on him would be clashing with his sense of that person being beneath him. Thoughts?
> 
> Toby is annoyed with Jim for interrupting his excuse because he was going to claim they were trying to make a movie and now their excuse will be ruined if Barbara were to check with the drama club.


End file.
